There are few marine species that captures the imagination and intrigue than the majestic whale shark (Rhincodon typhus). In Western Australia, the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage area is a world reknowned hotspot for whale shark presence supporting a burgeoning Ecotourism industry. The recognition of the gentle giant to the local community is never more apparent with the Whale Shark Festival held each year in May, coinciding with the peak whale shark activity.

Despite their notoriety, their life and migratory behaviour is still shrouded in some mystery but one group is determined to understand more about the species to assist in global awareness and conservation. ECOCEAN have established groundbreaking photo identification techniques for whale sharks and over the last 18 years has identified over 800 individual whale sharks in the waters of Ningaloo. Like Redmap, ECOCEAN invites the global community to be involved by taking an underwater photo of the side of the shark and submitting it to their website. Interestingly, the majority of the sharks are male and females are spotted. ECOCEAN's recipe for success has now spread globally and is generating conservation and awareness success in over 50 countries.

Closer to home, one burning question: where along the Western Australian coast are whale sharks hitching a ride along the Leeuwin Current ECOCEAN Development Manager, Kim Hands embarked on a mission covering over 3,000 kilometres visiting communities from Broome in the north and Albany in the south to talk whale sharks. Along side her every step of the way was her companion "Gulliver" the 10m inflatable whale shark.

On her journey, Kim discovered that many people had seen whale sharks off their coast, but didn’t realize that this information was important. The sightings were most common from Jurien Bay to Karratha, but there were a few from Albany and Broome too. Recent sightings off the south west coast may be associated with a warmer waters and stronger Leeuwin current over the past few years, but it is hard to tell. The mystery of the migratory patterns about the world’s biggest fish continues!

Reporting whale shark sightings in the southern half of WA through Redmap can help Kim and ECOCEAN learn more about whale sharks outside of Ningaloo and how they might be responding to warmer waters. Following a recent well publicised whale shark sighting at Rockingham south of Perth, Redmap encourages anyone with recent photos of whale shark to log them on the Redmap website.