Whale shark spotted in Manila Bay

MANILA, Philippines - A whale shark nearly five meters long was spotted yesterday afternoon in Manila Bay, the Philippine Coast Guard reported.

Coast Guard Port State Control chief Commander Ruben de Guzman said the whale shark, commonly called butanding, appeared to have a broken dorsal fin.

De Guzman said they received a call from a concerned citizen at around 3 p.m. yesterday that a whale shark was found swimming near the seawall across the Rajah Sulaiman Park in Manila.

The Coast Guard immediately dispatched boats and a diving team to the site.

“Even if it was injured, it was still playing with our divers who were on the rubber boat,” De Guzman said.

De Guzman said they initially wanted to drive the whale to deeper waters but since it was injured, they decided to seek the assistance of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to attend to its injury.

To prevent it from hitting the rocks along the seawall, Coast Guard teams made the effort of keeping the gentle giant at a distance of 10 meters away.

According to De Guzman, it was not the first time that a whale shark was spotted in Manila Bay. He said that in 2009, a butanding got stranded and died eventually.

Whale sharks are often sighted in Donsol, Sorsogon and they have in fact became the province’s biggest tourist attraction.