Video: Meet Taiwan's whale shark

It's the star attraction of the island's national aquarium, and a symbol of Taiwan's growing eco-consciousness.

Jonathan AdamsAugust 4, 2009 06:12Updated May 30, 2010 12:04

Filipino environmentalist divers examine the dorsal fin of the biggest fish species in the world, a whale shark (Rhincodon Typus), April 23, 1999. (Stringer/Reuters)

HOUWAN VILLAGE, Taiwan — Standing on a metal platform, Alger Liu, 26, scoops up a pile of krill, lowers it to the tank below him, and into the gaping maw of a whale shark — the largest fish on the planet.

Liu calls the 13-ft, 1,500-pound juvenile whale shark "Ah", in honor of his huge mouth (officially, the beast is nameless). After his ladel's been emptied, Liu uses it to "pet" Ah's head ("Like a dog," Liu said. "I think he likes this.")

Taiwan's only captive whale shark has it pretty good. It gets 25 pounds of krill a day. It has a doting caretaker. More to the point, it hasn't been chopped up into little pieces, stir-fried and scarfed down at a seafood restaurant.

And in two to three years' time, when Ah grows too big for his tank — say, when it's 19 to 20 feet long — the seaside National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium will set it free in the Taiwan Strait, Liu said.

Such treatment reflects a budding spirit of conservation among Taiwanese. Once seen as prime seafood, whale sharks are now viewed as a vulnerable species, research subject and ecotourism draw. It's a sign, too, of how younger, better-off generations have embraced environmentalism.

"There already are so few of them [whale sharks] said Sofi Chung, 20, a bartender in Kenting, a nearby seaside vacation area. "We shouldn't eat them."

Experts credit Taiwan's changed view of whale sharks to a campaign by global and local environmental groups, media coverage and pragmatic government policies.

In short, whale sharks are a success story of environmental policy-making in this free-wheeling young democracy.

Whale sharks, the largest fish in the ocean (blue whales are the largest mammal), can grow up to 40 feet in length. In the wild they feed mostly on plankton, and are harmless to humans (Liu said Ah will even take him for circular "rides" around the tank). By early this decade, Taiwanese fishermen had noted whale sharks' dwindling numbers in waters near the island, from a catch of about 270 in 1996 to just 100 in 2001, according to Joung Shoou-jeng, a whale shark expert at National Taiwan Ocean University.

A 2002 conference brought fishermen together with activists and experts for a lively debate on the way forward.

Then the government acted, instituting a fishing quota for several years before a total ban in 2008 on the fishing, sale and consumption of whale shark.

Now, flouting that ban can get earn you stiff fines and up to three years in prison. The Fisheries Agency says there's only one such case so far, in which a chopped-up whale shark was found on a fishing boat (the case is still working its way through the courts).

"At first, there were some voices of protest [against the law] among fishermen," Joung said. "But now, they accept it."