South Ari: Sanctuary in Peril 

[Content warning: graphic content, injuries to whale sharks]

The sky was heavy with overcast clouds, threatening rain as we conducted our routine survey; our eyes scanned South Ari’s outer reefs hoping to spot the world’s largest fish: the whale shark.

Boats were clustered together by the handful outside Maamigili airport near a throng of people frantically swimming to capture the all-important shot of the famed fish. However, the photograph I was out to capture was not artfully framed nor was it meant to be a precious memory; but rather, one which best documents the most shocking whale shark injuries I have ever seen. 

His white connective tissue was exposed, the wound viciously ripping across the head and gills, and was marbled with yellow and red as he swam at a slow, labored pace. It was striking how close together the propeller lacerations were. The injury’s severity indicated just how fast the boat was traveling — certainly not within the 10-knot speed limit required in the South Ari Marine Protected Area (SAMPA). As I finished collecting ID photos, I noticed the healed amputation to the caudal fin and instantly recognized this individual as WS220 Kuda Kudey. 

In the Invisible Borders of the South Ari Marine Protected Area (SAMPA)

Since 2006, the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme (MWSRP) has been collecting data in Alifu Dhaalu atoll and is working hard to understand how whale sharks use this area. Aided by MWSRP data, passionate citizen scientists, and local indigenous knowledge, we learned that juvenile whale sharks use this area as a ‘secondary nursery,’ with cruising as a predominant behavior. Boasting the world’s highest natural residency rate of any whale shark aggregation, one could say South Ari atoll is perhaps the closest whale sharks have to a home. 

For this highly mobile shark, time at the surface is when individuals engage in their thermoregulation process by basking in the warmth of the shallows after deeper dives in order to recuperate. For Kuda Kudey and hundreds of other individuals in our database, this is unfortunately why they risk getting unintentionally struck and injured by vessels. 

In the last decade, MWSRP data has observed a noticeable increase in the number of vessels operating within SAMPA on a daily basis; and subsequently, 66% of individuals in South Ari have suffered injuries at some point throughout their lifetime, with an average of three major injuries to each shark per year as of 2019.

Most individuals in South Ari are still in their adolescence; to spend several months allocating vital energy towards healing a major injury will cost them significantly and potentially affect their long-term development. According to a 2021 impact of injury report, whale shark sightings in SAMPA from 2014-2019 have decreased significantly. Dr Jessica Harvey-Carroll — the injury impact paper’s author — comments: “we know that the abundance of whale sharks is rapidly declining and this is not helped by the vessel induced injuries. Given the extent of injuries seen on these sharks, it’s not surprising that they may have learnt to associate boats with injuries and in turn, pain.” 

MWSRP’s injury database contains harrowing photos, some dating back to 2006. From major lacerations to complete amputations, it is not beyond the realms of possibility to say that SAMPA and the wider Maldives play host to the world’s most injured whale shark population.

Chaos and Armadas 

The uptake in vessel traffic and crowds also correlates with an increase in dangerous encounters for both people and whale sharks. Hussain Fayaz, a guide with 11 years’ experience in South Ari, says “I always fear crowded encounters for my own safety and that of my guests and whale sharks.” Many local guides echo this concern, including Ahmed Dhain Zuhury: “I do at times fear for my safety and have been pulled down several times while in an encounter.”

Without an in-field regulatory body to govern them, speeding to and from encounters has become normalized among some (not all) operators. Aside from this being problematic in regard to injury, it also fosters the mindset of quantity over quality for people’s encounters with whale sharks. 

Suju, a local guide in Alifu Dhaalu says ‘speeding has become the new norm in South Ari — especially within the past three years — and it is going up week by week. With more demand from tourists to encounter the whale shark, boats from all over the country — not just South Ari — are speeding in the MPA where whale sharks come to rest.’ 

While it is obviously nobody’s intention to cause these gentle giants harm, the fact remains that these catastrophic injuries have increased over these last years, which certainly poses questions regarding the decade-old marine “protected” area’s effectiveness.

Spanning 42 kilometers long with a 1-kilometer boundary, regulating SAMPA remains no easy or inexpensive feat. That said, this decade-long conversation regarding the SAMPA’s chaos and its desperate need for rangers is at a crossroads with the current situation of unsustainable tourism in the area being inconsistent with the Maldives’ image as one of seventeen shark sanctuaries worldwide.

Rangers could prevent the speeding and minimize the number of people for each encounter. They need to be assigned as soon as possible and start controlling the area for the sake of the future. All the stakeholders should learn, protect, and do the right thing before it’s too late. Everyone should take this seriously and carry out their role to protect our marine life.

Leggi, a guide local to Dhigurah, and previously employed as a SAMPA pre-pandemic,

Victims of Fame 

While implementing regulation to SAMPA is a momentous task that requires engagement and follow-through from policy makers and stakeholders, the demand for this change also needs to come from the tourists visiting Maldives. I am heartened by the fact that the conversation has grown in the past few years, especially on social media within the local and international communities.

Many people, including guides and the general public, will often approach MWSRP requesting our visual briefing pack and code of conduct materials (translated into 7 languages) to further aid guides in their task of briefing guests. This change’s rising momentum extends further with the newly incited online campaign Be Gentle to Giants — a collaboration between Maldives Resilient Reefs and Blue Marine Foundation — which aims to encourage tourists to seek out ethical whale shark experiences with operators committing to outlined campaign principles. 

During a recent encounter with Kuda Kudey, I dove down alongside him and examined his gill clefts — they had healed impressively, in a somewhat contorted and deformed way. That day, he cruised for close to half an hour, gliding over a reef laden with ochre-yellow table corals which, just a few years ago, were nothing but small recruits on a sparse and mostly dead reef. South Ari is an incredibly special place unlike any other whale shark aggregation in the world. If there is no tangible action soon, it is possible we could continue to see a drastic decline in — or even lose — Alifu Dhaalu’s whale sharks altogether.