Whale shark spotted in Bacolod waters

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – A netizen took to social media her awe as she spotted a whale shark on the waters of Barangay Banago here last Saturday.

Luniza Indoma posted a video on Facebook on Monday showing a whale shark inside a fish pen.

P/Ens. Kimberly Albia, deputy commander of Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Negros Occidental, urged the public to immediately report to the authorities any sightings of whale sharks, as the fish could get easily stressed when approached by people.

Albia said the whale shark was believed to be part of a group of three whale sharks that was spotted in Antique last month.

Albia said the whale shark was reportedly trapped in the fish pen for two days and was believed to be searching for food such as plankton or shrimp.

Following the said report, a team from PCG dived into the waters and checked for the presence of the whale shark last Tuesday, but it could no longer be found. Thus, they presumed that it got out on its own.

They checked again the following day, hoping to see it in the area to put a tag for tracking and its identification, but it was no longer there.

The PCG believed that the presence of the whale shark was an indication that the water here is good.