Publications

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• CITES Identification Manual Whale Shark (PDF - 1.47 MB)

Conservation status

The whale shark is protected in the waters of very few of the approximately 100 countries where this species is known to visit. While protected in Honduran and some US waters, the Maldives brought in legislation to protect whale sharks in 1995 and the Philippine government banned the hunting of whale sharks in 1998. India followed in mid-2001. However, some illegal hunting still continues.

At several other locations, unregulated fishing for whale sharks is apparent. The effort is expanding, with the number of whale sharks caught (relative to effort) appearing to decline. In Western Australian waters, the whale shark is fully protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1996 and the Fish Resources Management Act 1994. The whale sharks are identified as both a migratory species and recently a threatened species on the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act).

The whale shark is listed on the Bonn Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). This identifies the whale shark as a species whose conservation status would benefit from the implementation of international cooperative agreements.