1. SDAA
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About a year ago a whole nation
was stunned after experiencing the
strongest typhoon to ever make
landfall. Super Typhoon Haiyan, or
Yolanda as the locals called her, passed
over the Philippines on November
8, 2013. Its path of destruction left
thousands dead and millions homeless,
changing lives forever.
CONSERVING A SHARK,
SUPPORTING AN ISLAND
In the devastating wake of a super typhoon, one elusive species
of shark is securing the recovery of an island in the Philippines
By Steve De Neef
Since then, many of those affected
have been struggling to resume their
lives and continue their livelihoods.
Over the past year the support from the
rest of the world has been enormous,
but even with all this help, it has been
very hard for people and economies in
the Philippines to recover.
OCEAN WATCH
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2. RESILIENCE FROM MONAD SHOAL
One place that did manage to rebuild
quickly is Malapascua Island, even
though most houses and boats were
reduced to rubble after the super
typhoon passed. Just one year later
many locals have managed to pick
up their lives and thrive once again.
Part of the reason for this rapid
recovery can be found in an unusual
place just nine kilometres offshore,
at a submerged seamount called
Monad Shoal.
Monad Shoal is a place like no
other. Every morning at dusk, pelagic
thresher sharks (Alopias pelagicus)
come up to the shallower parts of
this shoal. Divers from all over the
world visit this place in the hope of
seeing these graceful sharks with
their distinct scythe-like tails. These
nocturnal oceanic sharks come here
for one reason only, to be cleaned by
cleaner fish like the cleaner and moon
wrasses (Labriodes dimidiatus and
Thalassoma lunare) that inhabit the
multiple cleaning stations found at
Monad Shoal. Nowhere else in the
world can you reliably see thresher
sharks on a daily basis and observe
them up close. It’s exactly this
phenomenon that makes Malapascua
famous, and eco-tourism based around
these sharks has played a major role in
the island’s recovery.
A few days after Typhoon Haiyan,
Malapascua had already received huge
support from the local dive industry
and tourists who were in love with the
island. One year later almost everyone
has managed to rebuild their homes
and livelihoods. Some locals even say
they have better homes now than they
did before the typhoon. Tourists are
still coming to see the pelagic thresher
sharks, which, considering that 80
percent of income on Malapascua is
directly related to this industry, means
that Malapascua’s economy is stable.
THRESHERS UNDER PRESSURE
In 2002 Monad Shoal was declared
as a marine reserve. While this was
a step in the right direction, it hasn’t
been able to stop illegal fishing – even
today Monad Shoal still falls victim to
destructive methods like dynamite and
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1. The elusive pelagic thresher
shark, Alopias pelagicus, is rarely
encountered elsewhere
2. Rising from the rubble: Homes and
businesses are being rapidly rebuilt
thanks to ecotourism generated by
the threshers of Monad Shoal
VISIT WWW.SUBGEAR.COM
SUBGEAR_TDS_2012_TAU.indd 2 10/9/2012 12:3

3. SDAA
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longline fishing. The income derived
from tourism and the associated
marine park fees don’t trickle down
to all the fishermen who use these
places. Furthermore, in the Philippines
thresher sharks are still directly
targeted and caught as by-catch on a
regular basis. It’s sad that within the
same country these sharks are both
adored and killed. Currently thresher
sharks are not a protected species in
the Philippines.
According to the Thresher Shark
Research and Conservation project,
the value of one live thresher shark per
day at Monad Shoal can be in excess
of USD 135,000 per year. This same
shark at a local fish market would only
sell for USD 180. The meat sells for
two to three and a half US dollars a
kilo while the fins can go for as much
as USD 22 per kilo, still only a fraction
of what the sharks are worth alive.
Currently all three species of
thresher sharks (bigeye, common
and pelagic) are listed as “Vulnerable”
according to IUCN’s Red List. This
means if no active measures are
taken to protect them, considering
that they are one of the global shark
fisheries’ most in-demand species,
their status will quickly deteriorate
to “Endangered” or worse. As these
sharks are pelagic in nature, protecting
them in just one place like Monad
Shoal is a good start but won’t do
much in the long run since they can
still be caught while travelling out
of protected waters. To make sure
thresher sharks (and tourism in places
like Malapascua) survive, broader
protection is necessary. All thresher
sharks are prone to unsustainable
fisheries and by-catch, and with their
low fecundity (two to four pups per
litter) and long gestation period, their
populations can decline quickly. In
most places thresher shark populations
are already down by more then 75
percent when compared to the 1980s.
ONE FOR ALL
It does seem like things are moving in
the right direction in the Philippines.
People are slowly becoming aware of
the fact that sharks are essential in
maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems
and are worth more alive than dead.
Since September 2014 the province
of Cebu amended an ordinance that
protects various marine resources to
now include the protection of all shark
species. While this is only applicable
in one province, it’s certainly an
encouraging sign.
Enabling fishermen to tap into the
shark tourism economy will be the real
challenge, as, without an alternative
income, it’s hard to stop people from
fishing when they rely on it for their
livelihoods. It is possible though – in
Malapascua many of the boatmen and
even dive guides used to be fishermen.
Tourism on the island is going strong,
the sharks’ popularity is still growing
and the associated industry is providing
ever more jobs. Shark tourism has
proven to be a viable conservation tool
and a profitable business.
Researchers from the University
of British Columbia published a paper
in 2013 that estimates global shark
ecotourism brings in USD 314 million
annually and is expected to more than
double in the next 20 years. If this
is the case then it would exceed the
current profit made by shark fisheries.
Monad Shoal serves as a great
example for shark tourism and has
proven to be invaluable in ways no
one could have forseen. Hopefully
this success will continue to inspire
people and governments to protect
rather than exploit this important
species, so that for many generations
to come people can enjoy the magic of
encountering one underwater. SDAA
This article was made possible with the help of
the Shark Foundation www.shark.ch3
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3. Sustainable thresher-based
tourism is proving that sharks are
worth vastly more alive than dead
4. A community mobilised: With
threshers still on the IUCN Red,
community-driven conservation
and enforcement is key to ensuring
their survival