[Coral-List] Fwd: New Paper - Does Provisioning for Tourism Harm Whale Sharks at Oslob? A review of the Evidence and Reply to Zeigler et al. (20180

[Judi Lowe]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Judi Lowe <judilowe at gmail.com>
Date: Mon., 4 Mar. 2019, 8:41 am
Subject: New Paper - Does Provisioning for Tourism Harm Whale Sharks at
Oslob? A review of the Evidence and Reply to Zeigler et al. (20180
To: <coral-list-owner at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>


Hello Coral List,

a new paper published today by Dr Mark Meekan of the Australian Institute
of Marine Science and Judi Lowe, PhD Candidate at Southern Cross
Universtiy, Australia, reviews recent studies by a similar group of authors
that claim that whale sharks are negatively impacted by provisioning at
Oslob (Philippines).

Meekan and Lowe find that the studies are fundamentally flawed,
characterised by a lack of baseline data, limited methodological approaches
and poor interpretation of results. There is no evidence that provisioning
alters behaviour by influencing foraging success, alters distributions,
affects residency and no causal relationship with vertical feeding or
encounter habituation. Oslob provides significant livelihoods for 177
fishers and their community (Lowe & Tejada, 2019). As a direct result,
fishers protect their livelihoods by paying for law enforcement by the
Bantay Dagat (sea wardens) and the National Police to protect whale sharks
from poaching and finning and conserve five marine reserves. Closure
advocated by the group of authore would have a devastating effect on
livelihoods and conservation of whale sharks an coral reef resources at
Oslob and is not supported by the studies cited.

 www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517719300329

Kind regards,

Judi Lowe


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