The winter has now well and truly set in and there have been no whale shark encounters reported for the entire month of January in the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Oman. Diving activity is still high in the region suggesting that the whale sharks are simply not present in the same areas that they are in the warmer months.

Although January was quiet in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, I did have the opportunity to travel to Djibouti to assist the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS) team and Megaptera project for their annual January expedition to research the Djibouti whale sharks. This aggregation is made up of majority male sharks between 3m and 6m in length. The aggregations I research in the Arabian Gulf are made up of larger sharks, so this trip gave me an opportunity to work with smaller animals and observe behaviours and how they interact.

I encountered many whale sharks whilst visiting Djibouti trip and I used the opportunity to discuss my own research with the MCSS team and other scientists that were present. The experience was invaluable and thoroughly enjoyable, I took away lots of new ideas and I hope that I may have given a few as well.

You can also read about the Djibouti trip on the SOS blog for the project.

David