Whale shark shock off Albany

A local fishing crew were amazed on Saturday when they spotted a whale shark off the coast of Albany in what may be the most southerly sighting of the endangered marine species in the world.

Picture by Comstock: A whale shark like this one has been spotted off Albany.

Professional fisherman Peter Westerberg and his crew were hauling sardines into their 16 metre boat near Seal Rock at 5.45am when they encountered the shark, which made two passes alongside them.

“Next thing this giant swims past, then comes back and put its whole tail out of the water right next to us,” Mr Westerberg said.

“It was just massive. The tail was about level with the gunwale and then it came back and it put its complete tail and about 1.5m of its back torso out of the water right next to us.

“It was just amazing – we couldn’t get over the patterns and the beautiful colours on its back.”

Police Air Wing confirmed the sighting during exercises over the area the same day.

The sightings came a little more than two months after a whale shark was spotted off Perth’s Leighton Beach on January 3.

Another sighting was reported off the coast of Dunsborough one week later.

Mr Westerberg, who has been fishing along the south coast for 35 years, estimated the whale shark to be at least 6m in length and said it was the first time he’d seen or heard of one being sighted in the area.

The appearance of the majestic ocean giant has also left a leading marine scientist baffled. Whale shark expert and marine conservationist Brad Norman said it was the most southerly whale shark sighting ever reported to him.

“I’ve not had a record ever that far south,” he said.

“Whale sharks are normally a warm water species and can usually be found about 30-35 degrees north and south of the equator.”

Dr Norman said the importance of “citizen science” in helping experts track and document the relatively unexplained fish species was invaluable.

“What we are trying to do is build up any sightings from along the WA coast to start building a picture to see whether (whale sharks) are distributed further along the coast than just Ningaloo between April and July,” he said.

“If you’ve got potentially tens of thousands of people out on the water being the eyes on the ground, it’s really helpful for us to try and understand this threatened species.

“Whale sharks are still a threatened species and their numbers are not high, so we really need to better understand them to ensure their long-term conservation.”