Butanding draw ’em to Legazpi

LEGAZPI CITY — What a tourist attraction they would make.

The sight of giant whale sharks known as butanding cavorting in coastal waters here with lava-spewing Mt. Mayon in the background could be a big come-on for tourists, local officials say.

Foreign and local tourists, aboard a motorized banca, can observe the whale sharks with a full view of the cone-shaped Mount Mayon in the background.

City officials said visitors could have the rare experience of interacting with the giant mammals amid the fireworks from restivev Mayon.

Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said he has already designated security personnel to make sure that the school of whale sharks, ranging in length from 20 to 60 feet and composed of seven adults and two offspring, will remain undisturbed and unharmed.

The whale sharks were first sighted two weeks ago in the coastal barangay of Bigaa.

In the past days, they had started to attract residents and a number of tourists to the shore.

Bigaa barangay chairman Julian Arienda said he has already assigned barangay tanod (village watchmen) to guard the shoreline because the whale sharks were observed to have been resting along the shores at midnight.

"In fact, a fisherman was caught by surprise upon seeing three whale sharks whose heads lay along the shorelines one midnight," Arienda told The STAR. He mistook the giant fish as a "parked jeepney."

Quoting fishermen who had managed to touch the giant mammals, Arienda said that one of them has a slight cut in the tail fin, a marking that resembles that of a whale seen in Donsol, Sorsogon.

"We believe that some of these butanding were those that once were sighted in Donsol," he said. "We just don’t know why they migrated to Albay Gulf,"

Arienda said he and Rosal had agreed to build artificial sanctuaries for small fish that feed the giant mammals off the barangay’s coastal waters to make the whale sharks stay.

Nestor Asuela, a professional diver, said that he saw these whale sharks feeding themselves with tiny shrimps called balaw while observing them from a distance.

The whale sharks were usually sighted near the shorelines before 7 a.m. and after 4 p.m. almost everyday, he added.

Rosal said that he would beam giant spot lights into the coastal waters of Bigaa if the whale sharks would remain in sight to attract them and keep them from leaving.

"In fact, some tourists who have been here to view Mayon, have now started to troop to the shorelines here to interact with these whale sharks," Rosal said.

He had already coordinated with officials of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Department of Tourism to discuss how to protect the whale sharks and turn them into a tourist attraction, vis-a-vis the majestic Mayon volcano, Rosal said. — Cet Dematera