For
most divers it would be the biggest dream to dive with a whaleshark.
But these meetings are getting more and more unlikely,
because this biggest living fish is beeing hunted merciless.
Until
now, dive-operators tried to explain the missing of the whaleshark with phenomenons
like El Nino to the paying tourist. In fact,
whaleshark meat achieves huge prices, especially in Taiwan - known there as
"Tofushark" and brings app. 15 US$ per 1 kilo!.
The
nation that catches most whalesharks is India, followed by the Philippines,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma etc.
Ostensibly, there is already a large
industrie established around the whaleshark-fishery
supported by local fishermen who recognized the
monetary value of this business!
The
methods to catch whale sharks a very brutal, Underwater Fotographer Jürgen
Freund was kind enough to provide us with award winning pictures about the whale shark-hunters
in the Philippines.
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