"The finding shows an increase in whale shark population in the area," said PIS corporate secretary Muhammad Aryomekka Firdaus, in a statement as reported by Antara on Tuesday (11/6/2024)
The whale shark monitoring has been underway in the last few months. He said that the monitoring demonstrates PIS's commitment to supporting the sustainability of the marine ecosystem, particularly in eastern Indonesia.
In line with the commitment, PIS has become one of the parties managing the Whale Shark Center in Kwatisore, Nabire. The center runs several programs, including conservation and endangered species monitoring.
Joint monitoring efforts since November 2023 have identified new whale sharks in Cendrawasih Bay. The data increasing the population from an initial count of 195 to 203 as of May 2024, according to Sumaryono, the national park's habitat ecosystem controller.
"Hopefully, this number will continue to grow in the future, allowing us to effectively monitor the population and movement of whale sharks in the TNTC area," he said.
Besides monitoring, conservation efforts continue with the tagging of whale sharks to record and observe whale shark behavior in the waters. The data collected is used to study the migration routes of the fish in the Papuan waters.
Budi remarked that, in the future, this data can also be accessed by other ships. He will ensure that the ship routes do not disturb the whale sharks.
"We will match the data with the shipping routes of PIS ships in Papua," he said. (ANTARA)
