Whale-sharks and Bagans in Cenderawasih Bay.

Esmé & Danie

Cenderawasih Bay is about as remote as it gets. It’s location is on the eastern fringes of the Indonesian archipelago. At the furthest south western end of Cenderawasih is Kwatisore Bay. The bay has been designated a Marine National Park.

Bagan. Artwork by one of the dive guides

One of the bagans.

There are numerous fishing platforms, called Bagans, scattered across Kwatisore Bay especially in the vicinity of Kwatisore village.

Esmé watching the whale-shark.

In Cenderawasih Bay the main draw-card is the presence of numerous whale-sharks. Their behaviour here is different from anywhere else. What makes this area so exceptional is that the whale-sharks are living live here permanently and can be seen almost every day of the year, they don’t seem to migrate. Valerie Taylor has referred to this phenomenon as the new natural wonder of our planet.

Normally whale-sharks are seen on their own with wide open mouths to filter feed on plankton. In Cenderawasih Bay whale shark encounters are completely different. Here they gather together below the bagans, feasting on the small fish that slip out of the fishing nets, sucked out by themselves, or are otherwise discarded by the fishermen.

Feeding occurs either by ram filtration, or by active suction feeding. The whale-shark is an active feeder, targeting concentrations of plankton or fish. It is able to ram filter feed or can gulp in a stationary position. This is in contrast to the passive feeding basking shark, which does not pump water. Instead, it swims to force water across its gills.

The Cenderawasih whale-sharks are opportunistic and have a feeding behavior well outside the ordinary. Normally whale-sharks feed by filtering plankton, but in this instance they await the dead fish, or almost dead, that fall or filter through the nets. In most other locations a whale-shark encounter is a less than a guaranteed affair and relies on a certain amount of good fortune.

Next to the bagans is also a a good place to practice over and under split shots by bouncing up and down in the water.

Hilmar doing his over/under split shot.

Whale-shark under the bagan.

The bagans are traditional fishing platforms. Fishermen live there for months on end and spend their days fishing with hand-lines. At dusk, massive nets are lowered beneath the bagan, to about 18m. Floodlights illuminate the water from the surface to attract millions of the 7cm baitfish called ikan puri,and in the morning the nets are raised along with tons of these fish. Some are collected for use as bait for bonito, but the excess catches are left in the net, hung just beneath the platform. Nets hanging from the platforms attract the interest of the largest residents of Cenderawasih, the whale-sharks.

when the bagan is home

The whale-sharks in the bay have learnt to home in and suck these small fish from the net. The fishermen also feed some of the ikan puri to the whale-sharks. Maybe, that’s a way of preventing them from sucking holes in their nets. Many of the nets are in a poor state of repair and the whale sharks do not miss the opportunity for a free lunch, using their cavernous mouths to vacuum the unfortunate fish through the holes in the nets. The ikan puri fish and plankton is the favourite food of the whale-sharks.

Whale-shark circling the fishing net.

all the tasty fish inside the net.

The whale-sharks come to eat the small fish and in turn attract tuna and other gamefish which the fishermen catch and sell. This makes the whale-sharks a bringer of good luck. The locals believe that the whale-sharks are under the protection of the spirits and therefore fishing them is traditionally prohibited. The fishermen regard the arrival of the whale sharks at their particular bagan as a good omen. Whale sharks are considered to bring good fortune, so the fishermen actively encourage their presence by feeding them, scraps of small fish in an attempt to attracting greater numbers.

Fishermen living on the bagan.

Pouring water onto/into the whale-shark.

The whale-sharks were placid and seemed unconcerned by our presence. They swam gently between us, sometimes softly nudging us out of the way. They seemed to like our bubbles and never seemed to be fazed by any camera or video strobe lights.

Whale sharks are docile fish and do not pose significant danger to humans.

Mating and pupping of whale sharks has never been observed. They are ovoviviparous and the females can carry 300 pups at the same time. The eggs remain in the body and the females give birth to live young which are 40 to 60 cm long.

Matt and the whale-shark.

Our dive trip to the Whale-Sharks of Cenderawasih Bay was organized by Matt Weis of DPG. We stayed aboard the MSY SeaHorse, a Phinisi liveaboard, which is a very comfortable sailing ship. The Captain, owners (Txus and Ci Ci) and crew were great hosts. The accommodation and food was excellent.

The MSY Seahorse.

The saloon of the Seahorse.

To cater for group of underwater photographers, doing between 4-5 dives per day requires some special facilities and organisation. The SeaHorse staff did very well on that side as well.

Cenderawasih Bay, Whale Sharks

Diving with the Whale sharks in Cenderawasih Bay is probably one of the best WhaleShark experiences on this planet. It is important to do it from a good liveaboard vessel, because of the remoteness of the area. The MSY Seahorse is probably an obvious best choice.

Cenderawasih’s marine diversity has earned it the name of “The Galapagos of Indonesia’s reefs” by Dr Gerald Allen.

We flew to Biak, from Jakarta via Sulawesi, where we boarded our liveaboard ship, which would be home for the next 10 days, the MSY SeaHorse. It is a 33 meter Pinisi rigged Sulawesi schooner and can accommodate up to 16 guests. The captain, crew and dive masters were very friendly, polite and helpful. The ships layout is especially suitable to accommodate underwater photographers.

Biak is a small island located on the northern border of Cenderawasih Bay. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs and corals. Their language is Indonesian and the main local language is Biak. Languages such as Dutch and English are also used, but limited.

It was not until 1828 when the first whale shark specimen known to science was discovered off the South African coast. Dr Andrew Smith formally described this species later that year as the largest living shark in the ocean.

There is a pattern of lines and spots on the skin of each shark which enables them to ‘blend’ into their surroundings. This ‘camouflage’ makes the sharks less conspicuous in their oceanic environment. The unique patterning does not appear to change over time and can be used to identify individual sharks.

The largest confirmed individual had a length of 12.65 m and a weight of more than 21 metric tons.

The name “whale shark” comes from the fish’s size, being as large as some species of whales and also a filter feeder like baleen whales.

Whale sharks have five large pairs of gills. The head is wide and flat with two small eyes at the front. Whale sharks are grey with a white belly. Their skin is marked with pale yellow spots and stripes which are unique to each individual, almost like the Australian Aboriginal dot paintings.

The whale shark has three prominent ridges along its sides. Its skin can be up to 10 cm thick. The shark has a pair of dorsal and pectoral fins. Juveniles’ tails have a larger upper fin than lower fin, while the adult tail becomes semilunate.

It is the sole member of the genus Rhincodon. The species originated about 60 million years ago.

Whale sharks have a mouth that can be 1.5 m wide, containing 300 to 350 rows of tiny teeth and 10 filter pads which it uses to filter feed.

The whale shark is a filter feeder. One of only three known filter feeding shark species. The other are the basking shark and the megamouth shark. It feeds on macro-algae, plankton, krill and small fish.

Divers are normally told not to approach the whale sharks and keep your distance, so as not to scare them. Here in Cenderawasih you’ll have to swim to try and AVOID the sharks from bumping into you.

The whale sharks are inquisitive. When they are swimming in your direction and you notice them tilting their bodies to your side, to get a better look at you with the one eye, you can be sure that they will then swim directly towards you.

Whale sharks are ovoviviparous which means that the young hatch from eggs retained within the mother, so that she then gives birth to live young.

Whale shark pups are about 2 feet long when they are born. They only reach sexual maturity when they reach a length of about 9metres. This means that the whale sharks can only start reproduction at a maturity age of about 30 years. So their very existence is in danger, even-though is thought that whale sharks may live at least 100-150 years.

We found that when there were a couple of scuba divers in the water, the whale shark would approach and would swim past each and every one of us in turn. All you have to do is to is to stay in on place, they will find you.

Whale sharks seem to like the bubbles coming from the scuba divers and like to swim through the bubbles, almost like mantas do, maybe the bubbles do tickle their skins.

In Cenderawasih the whale sharks don’t just pass by seasonally, like in most other places where most dive operators will drop you, on snorkel, in the path of a single shark so that you can get a glimpse of it for 5 minutes, if you have a long breath and can swim very fast.

The Cenderawasih whale sharks stay year-round, they circle under the fishermen platforms called “bagans“, sucking some fish out of their storage nets.

They love the bubbles. The whales harks of Cenderawasih Bay swim into the bubbles on purpose, they appear to like the feeling, they will even try to ‘gulp’ the bubbles with their mouths.

Whale sharks are quite curious and will swim up to you, tilt their head towards you and have a good look at you.

It takes some effort to get to Cenderawasih, but, it’s well worth the effort. The trip was organized by Matt Weiss of DPG. The owners of the MSY Seahorse, Txus, (from Spain who also built the boat) and Chi Chi (from Indonesia) our lovely, sparkling, cruise director, were both on board as well. They were Great hosts as well as excellent dive guides.

It was a trip that I can easily recommend to anyone.