Estimating the energetic cost of whale shark tourism

Christine Barry; Christine Legaspi; Thomas M. Clarke; Gonzalo Araujo; Corey J.A. Bradshaw; Adrian C. Gleiss; Lauren Meyer; Charlie Huveneers

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110164

Back

Estimating the energetic cost of whale shark tourism

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Estimating the energetic cost of whale shark tourism

Christine Barry, Christine Legaspi, Thomas M. Clarke, Gonzalo Araujo, Corey J.A. Bradshaw, Adrian C. Gleiss, Lauren Meyer and Charlie Huveneers

Biological conservation, Vol.284, 110164

2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110164

Files and links (1)

pdf

Published3.46 MBDownload View

Published (Version of Record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access

Abstract

Accelerometer

Elasmobranch

Energy expenditure

Oslob

Philippines

Provisioning

Wildlife tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourism industry, where feeding animals is often applied to increase the probability of up-close encounters. However, directly feeding wildlife can cause behavioural, ecological, and physiological changes in the target species. In Oslob, Philippines, whale shark (Rhincodon typus) tourism involves feeding sharks a total of 150–400 kg sergestid shrimp daily throughout the interaction period from 06:00 to 10:00 from small outrigger boats while tourists observe whale sharks. We deployed tri-axial acceleration loggers on 16 whale sharks and recorded 270 h of acceleration, depth, and water temperature data (0.2–69.7 h). Comparing activity across tourism and non-tourism periods, whale sharks had a two-fold increase in vectorial dynamic body acceleration, and altered tailbeat frequency and amplitude, during tourism operations. Using a bioenergetics model, we show that whale shark metabolic rates increased by 56.7–71.6 % while in the tourism area. A resampling approach found providing ∼220 kg of sergestid shrimp daily would ensure ≥ 0.90 probability of meeting the increased energetic requirements. A global sensitivity analysis revealed that uncertainty in the assumed exponent of the standard metabolic rate was the only input that varied model predictions substantially. Due to unknown consequences of feeding whale sharks, we recommend managers aim to reduce the energy expenditure of whale sharks through operation changes instead of focussing on the quantity of food provided. Our research provides a novel method to contextualise the impacts of tourism beyond behavioural changes.

Details

Title: Estimating the energetic cost of whale shark tourism
Authors/Creators: Christine Barry - Flinders University
Christine Legaspi - Independent Researcher, Quezon City, Philippines
Thomas M. Clarke - Flinders University
Gonzalo Araujo - Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Corey J.A. Bradshaw - Flinders University
Adrian C. Gleiss - Murdoch University
Lauren Meyer - Florida Aquarium
Charlie Huveneers - Flinders University
Publication Details: Biological conservation, Vol.284, 110164
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
Identifiers: 991005588302007891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems; School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences; Harry Butler Institute; Centre for Molecular Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites

Metrics

213 File views/ downloads

142 Record Views

16 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.2 Marine Biology; 3.2.92 Fisheries Ecology
Web Of Science research areas: Biodiversity Conservation; Ecology; Environmental Sciences
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology