WA pair of medium-sized whale sharks
arrive to snack on baitfish fed to them by
fishermen on a remote bagan fishing
platform in Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesia
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ENCOUNTER
Fisherman’sfriends
Due to over-fishing, shark populations around the world are in decline,
says award-winning underwater photographer Steve Jones, yet in a remote
part of Indonesia a bond has developed between two most unlikely friends,
the local fishermen and the largest of all fish, the whale shark.
Story and photographs by Steve Jones
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ENCOUNTER
g
s our liveaboard moves through inky
blue seas, strange raft-like shapes
float several hundred metres off our
bow and I can just about make out
the first people we’ve seen in two
days. The scene would not seem out
of place in a Robinson Crusoe novel and desert
islands are easy to imagine, for we have just
meandered our way down a barely explored,
prehistoric coastline with few indications of
human habitation.
Famed Indonesian diving destinations such as
Raja Ampat and Fak Fak lie further round the
coast to the west. But we are in Cenderawasih
Bay, on the northern coast of the eastern
Indonesian province of West Papua, home to
Indonesia’s largest marine national park.
The Cenderawasih region had remained
largely off the diving map until recently, when
the increasing discovery of endemic species
there caught the attention of the scientific
community. The area has since become
renowned for exceptional reefs and high
marine biodiversity. But, despite a few
exploratory expeditions, Cenderawasih Bay
remains barely explored.
The rafts I can see are actually traditional
fishing platforms known as bagans and there
are more than 20 of them, semi-permanently
in the vicinity. Small groups of fishermen live
on them for months on end, spending their
days scurrying with cat-like agility over the
outriggers while fishing with handlines. At
night they catch a small bait fish they call
ikan puri, lured with powerful lights and
harvested with lift nets. After a successful
night’s fishing, the large nets full of this
anchovy-like fish hang under the platform and
catch the attention of the much larger
occupants of the bay – whale sharks.
A
Bagan rights
VThe spotted patterns on
whale sharks’ bodies are
as unique as fingerprints
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The crew of our tender brings good news back
to the mothership – MSY Seahorse. The bagan
they’ve just spoken to has sharks visiting it and
has granted us permission to dive. Our skipper,
an affable Spaniard named Txus, mentions that
most of the bagans tend to get whale shark
visits when they have a good catch of the ikan
puri. The sharks seem to be opportunistically
feeding, a behaviour that is thought to be very
unusual for a filter-feeder, and has only recently
been documented for this species. Little else is
known about this population of whale sharks –
no-one knows if they are resident or just
passing through.
With the prospect of a sure encounter with
an animal that all too often proves elusive, I
struggle to contain my excitement as I prepare
to dive. Entering the water, I find myself almost
on top of a five metre whale shark and
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ENCOUNTER
Reefs and relics in
Cenderawasih Bay
With undiscovered reefs aplenty,
Cenderawasih Bay is most definitely
frontier diving, and there is a good chance
that on the sail to and from the bagans
you will dive on a reef never visited before.
The charter boats tend to prefer
itineraries that travel between the
regional capital Manokwari and the town
of Nabire.
Manokwari was a Japanese base in the
Second World War and evidence of this
can be found on the seabed in the harbour
where a freighter, the Shinwa Maru
, lies
on its side in around 35m of water. The
holds are open and allow safe limited
penetration. Military cargo can be found,
including armaments, tractors, bombs
and multitudes of bottles.
For me however, the highlight of diving
near Manokwari is a site known as the
Cross Wreck, a coastal patrol boat sunk by
a bomb. Lying upright in 20m of water this
small wreck is a mass of colour and is
covered in fish life.
QLeft: A whale shark goes vertical in
the water as it sucks baitfish through
holes in the fishermen’s net
UBottles and bombs can be found
inside the holds of the Sinwa Maru
wreck in Cenderawasih Bay
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ENCOUNTER
RAbove: A whale shark feeds by
filtering plankton, however we now
know they can eat small fish as welll
QLeft: a photographer contemplates
the wreck of the Sinwa Maru
g quickly spot two more near the surface, one
of which is approaching me, seemingly on a
collision trajectory. The shark makes a slight
course correction at the last minute and glides
past me, making its way to the net full of
ikan puri under the platform, which is drawing
the sharks in like a magnet. They seem
unperturbed by our presence.
The net has seen better days, and the shark
uses its huge mouth to vacuum the
unfortunate fish through the holes. Until
recently it was believed that whale sharks were
purely filter feeders, surviving on plankton.
However this idea was dispelled a few years
ago when the BBC’s Planet Earth team captured
incredible footage of whale sharks feeding on
schools of small fish during spawning. We have
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Vital statistics
WHALE SHARK RHINCODON TYPUS
Size: largest living animals apart from
whales. Confirmed to grow to more
than 12 metres (there have been
unconfirmed reports of even larger
specimens)
Weight: can weigh over 20 tonnes
Life expectancy: 70 years
Habitat: all tropical and warmtemperate seas (so from latitudes of
approximately 30ºS to 30ºN), thought
to be migratory and primarily pelagic,
but do visit shallower seas.
much left to discover about this and other
species of sharks.
As we approach our agreed time limit, two
larger whale sharks show up, making me even
more reluctant to leave, but I needn’t have
worried as the action continues throughout the
day with even more sharks on later dives. As
evening approaches, the nets are raised to
prepare them for the night’s fishing. Some of
the ikan puri are spoiled and not fit for sale, so
the fishermen throw them to the sharks, who
gather at the surface in expectation of this daily
ritual. They jostle for position, heads above the
surface, gulping down mouthfuls of water as
the baitfish are thrown to them. The smiles on
the fishermen’s faces tell a surprisingly different
story to that normally told when fisherman
meets shark, as these men seem to be
genuinely enjoying the interaction with an
animal that was earlier eating their catch.
Shark reverence
Over the coming days we move to several
different bagans. Individual sharks seem to
come and go, including a visit by a 10-metre
long goliath with a massive girth. Other species,
possibly silky sharks, occasionally cruise by out
in the blue, but keep their distance. On one
dive we had nine whale sharks with us and the
bagan fishermen even joined us in the water to
swim with them. Despite our proximity to so
many, they move among us with ease, avoiding
collision with us, or each other. The biggest risk
is getting caught up in a melee at the surface
when the fishermen discard their spoiled catch.
ENCOUNTER
WThe bagan fishermen lead lonely lives,
and welcome visits from whale sharks
despite the inevitable raids on their nets
I learnt the hard way that a swipe of a whale
shark’s tail is something best avoided.
Entanglement is a hazard for both sharks and
the fragile rafts above. One morning we spoke
to a fisherman who had had to enter the water
in the middle of the night at considerable risk,
to cut free a trapped shark. He lost his entire
catch, yet seemed only too pleased to have
helped the animal. It was evidence of a deep
held respect that these bagan fishermen have
for whale sharks, one that is shared by some
other traditional Indonesian fishing
communities, particularly some of the nomadic
Bajo fishermen. Some believe that the sharks
are guarded by a spirit and therefore hunting
this species is traditionally forbidden. However
the name by which the bagan fishermen
affectionately refer to them by is less
complimentary – ikan bodoh, which means ‘the
stupid fish’.
This name has other, darker connotations. If
the shark fin merchants move into this area
they could wipe out the entire population of
these easy targets in no time at all and the
bagan fishermen would be powerless to stop
them. Properly managed tourism possibly offers
the best long-term protection for
Cenderawasih’s whale sharks, ensuring that the
true value of these sharks to the Papuan
authorities lies in their remaining alive.
We’d planned three days in the company of
the whale sharks, allowing time to explore
Cenderawasih’s hidden wonders on the return
back to port. Yet none of us wanted to leave.
We stretched it to four, then five days,
meaning we had to beat a hasty return north
to catch our flights home.
On that return journey I had time to reflect
on the fact that the fishermen and I come
from cultures that are worlds apart. They live in
a developing country and ply their trade with
the most primitive of fishing equipment. I
come from a developed country and ply mine
with the most advanced imaging equipment.
Yet we were unified in one very human
emotion – the sheer pleasure we all felt in
being in the water with these ancient,
magnificent sharks. z
Expedition details
Steve Jones led a group of
photographers and videographers on
this trip on behalf of the Ocean
Geographic Society. The trip was
arranged by tour operator Equator
Diving (www.equatordiving.com).
Cruises to Cenderawasih Bay either
start in the regional capital,
Manokwari, or the town of Nabire.
These airports can be reached by
internal flight from Jakarta, Makassar
or Manado, all of which lie within a few
hours flying from Singapore. Steve
would like to say special thanks to the
crew of the MSY Seahorse
(www.indocruises.com). Steve learnt
to dive with Cynon Valley BSAC in the
Welsh valleys when he was a teenager.
You can find out more about him at
www.millionfish.com
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