Whale Sharks Hawaii – Giants of the Deep

Swim with Whale Sharks

Join us on either of our tours to help collect data for our partner HURC.  When sighted, conservation photography is used to identify individual whale sharks. When a whale shark is encountered, we’ll get photographers into the water quickly. Our research focus is to photograph skin patterning behind the gills, as well as any scars (entanglement!). Sighting data (location, size, gender) are recorded along with id photos. Do know that during collection, it is recommended to give about 10-12 feet of space around the whale shark, and sightings are only a few times a year (depending on much effort is given to finding them).

The best odds of coming across or swimming with a whale shark is on our full day boat tours where we visit the most productive feeding areas. Geared for photographers, anyone can join and enjoy our private boat in the company of guides with extensive knowledge of local wildlife – and how to find them! We’ve seen whale sharks on our shorter tours as well, but the more time, more area covered, and the most days spent doing so, the better odds to realize your bucket-list adventures.

Whale Shark Sightings

Our Oahu charters have came across and identified a surprising number of new individuals on the Waianae coastline since beginning a collaboration with  Hawaii Unchartered Research Collective (HURC). With whale sharks sightings reaching record numbers overall – whale shark sightings are occurring way more often than previously thought!

We’ve been able to name whale sharks that we found and that HURC identified as new individuals. So far we have ‘discovered’ Alaka’i, Noelle, Jaxson (entangled), JJ, Kalea, Lynn, Mackey, Giant, Iris, Sylvia Earle, and one still processing. That’s 11 new individuals in the past 5 years!

Swimming with whale sharks Oahu

Sylvia Earle

Swimming with whale sharks oahu

Kalea

Swimming with whale sharks Hawaii

Iris

  • Whale sharks have been in Hawaiian waters for as long as anyone here can remember.

  • Despite its name and size, the whale shark is not a whale but classified in a family of its own “Rhincodontidae”. Its closest relatives are the harmless leopard and nurse sharks.

  • The world’s largest fish, some as big as a school bus and weighing up to 37 tons, are not aggressive.

  • They reach sexual maturity at age 30. Females can carry up to 300 eggs. They hatch inside the mother but very few survive to maturity. Females give birth to live young but this has never been observed. Where pupping occurs and where the youngest animals situate remains a mystery, as they are very rarely found. Once the juvenile has established itself the mother will leave it and move on. It’s thought that less than 10% of whale sharks born survive to adulthood, but those that do may live to 150.

  • Whale sharks are filter feeders and can neither bite nor chew. They can process more than 6,000 liters of water an hour through their gills. Although its mouth can stretch to four feet wide, a whale shark’s teeth are so tiny that they can only eat small shrimp, fish and plankton by using their gill rakers as a suction filter.

  • Whale sharks have been listed as endangered by the IUCN due to hunting, entanglement, boat strikes, and other human disturbances. We can do our part to protect whale sharks and the animals that share their ecosystems by choosing sustainable and responsibly fished seafood, supporting policies that protect sharks, and choosing tourism operators that educate their guests and minimize their impact on the environment and the animals they take visitors to see.

Wild Side Wednesday – Whale Sharks

Voluntourism | Malama Hawaii – Whale Shark Program