The whale shark that made a brief appearance in Pom-Pom Island, Semporna. Pix shared by a volunteer diver.
KOTA KINABALU: Whale sharks seldom appear in waters of Semporna’s Pom-Pom island, but recently, one did.
For marine biologist and avid diver Jeethvendra Kirishnamorthie, this was his first time seeing it after almost 10 years of diving in the area.
“I am so excited. I can say that after some 4,000 dives, this is the first time I encountered the whale shark in the waters of Pom-Pom island,” he said.
He said the encounter was not only exciting, but also an indication that there might be an upwelling of food sources, such as plankton in the area, and a testimony that the conservation works done are paying off.
Jeeth said when there are lots of plankton around, species such as whale sharks, which feed on them, would naturally come as they follow the food trails.
“But this shark did not hang around too long, it went on its way after a short while, and we were lucky to have encountered it during that brief moment,” he said.
He said for Pom-Pom island, some of the resident marine species were green turtles, hawksbill turtles and a lot of common reef fish, including a number of coral cat sharks.
Jeeth said with the abundance of marine species and islands in Sabah, it was vital that more efforts were put in to protect and attract marine species to the area.
He said for Semporna, some of the biggest threats to marine biodiversity are the occurrence of fish bombings that destroy reefs, as well as other human activities such as unsustainable developments, pollution, net fishing and ghost nets.
