These fishermen in Indonesia feed whale sharks 500 kilograms of anchovies every day.

Footage from December 2019 captured off the coast of Kaimana, a small port town in West Papua, shows a wide-mouthed shark sucking on the surface of the water so that any floating anchovies can be consumed.

Shark-watching to see one of these rare and protected fish has become one of the region's main tourist attractions.

In order to get a close look at the whale sharks, anchovy must be available in sufficient quantities.

To see one of the rare and protected fishes, the whale shark (whale shark), you can visit bicari bay and triton bay, kaimana regency, west papua.
In the waters of the two bays, the whale shark often appears to the surface of the sea around the charts of fishermen who are anchored. The appearance of this endangered rare fish around the chart is to find food.

Because the catch of small-sized fishermen sometimes scattered at sea level.

This scattering attracts the attention of the whale sharks so that these fish often appear in the morning, afternoon or evening when the fishermen are active in collecting their catch.

Although it is the largest type of sea fish, whale shark food is plankton and small fish such as anchovy or commonly called puri. Unmitigated, 1 whale shark in a day can spend 0.5 tons of anchovy.

Therefore, to be able to look more closely at whale sharks, anchovy must be available in sufficient quantities.

With a fairly wide mouth, the whale shark's way of eating is quite unique, that is by way of sucking, so that anything that floats on the surface of the sea water can be consumed.

This attraction is a rare spectacle and has become one of the destinations of interest to tourists visiting kaimana.

Sound Byte : Irwan (Fisherman)