By Sophie Birkett | Head of Operations
Dear Supporter,
The past couple months, the staff and volunteers at GVI Phang Nga have had several opportunities to spend time with out partner, Shark Guardian. Shark Guardian are based near us in Khao Lak, even though they do work all over the world. That means we get to attend local talks and events for the Khao Lak area dive companies. It’s been great for us to not only interact with Liz and Brendon from Shark Guardian, but to form and strengthen connections with the dive companies. We partner with Shark Guardian on several of their initiatives and will continue to work with them in the future, but right now we’re particularly interested in their whale shark project. We’ve taken the lead on writing a code of conduct to change the diving practices of southern Thailand dive shops in regards to whale sharks.
Whale sharks are a fascinating animal; the biggest fish in the ocean at an average of 12-14m long. Their mouth is 1.5 meters wide and they use it to suck in gulps of water to eat tiny plankton. Whale sharks are said to be quite curious, often approaching divers to check them out, so it’s understandable why they’re such a big draw for dive companies!
Because of the attraction of whale sharks, many dive companies do things like feed the whale sharks or allow their divers to get very close to them. All this human interaction is beginning to negatively impact the whale sharks, so the code of conduct we’ve written sets up rules and guidelines to protect the whale sharks: no feeding, no touching, no flash photography, and limits on number of boats/divers nearby are examples of the guidelines that will help keep whale shark--diver interactions more natural.
Thanks to you, our donors so far, we’re going to be printing the code of conduct posters to be distributed to the dive companies that agree to follow those guidelines. The posters will have the Shark Guardian certification and let potential divers know they are choosing a company committed to the protection of whale sharks. This is a big first step in the journey to a brighter future for our whale sharks!
Next step? Workshops to train and educate the dive companies, divers, and tourists of Khao Lak!
All the best
GVI Phang Nga
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