Tourists Swim With Whale Sharks And Cause Feeding Frenzy; Dozens Of Whale Sharks Gather In Philippines, Beg Humans For Food

On Cebu Island in the Philippines, tourists can pay to swim with and feed whale sharks.

Fishermen on the island, which used to be virtually empty of tourists and their money, lure the whale shark by hand feeding them shrimp. Tourists can then pay to either watch the whale sharks swim around or get into the water and hand feed the enormous fish.

If one were to decide to swim with sharks, a whale shark is your safest choice. The whale shark feeds on algae, plankton and krill and is not a danger to humans.

2 years ago, protests about feeding the whale shark popped up on the Internet. Biologist says it is an unnatural behavior for the animal to be hand fed by humans and begging near boats.

They say it is equally unnatural for so many whale sharks to congregate in one place. The feeding tours run from 6am to 1pm. Upwards of twenty sharks will fill the area waiting to get fed.

The fishermen on Cebu Island say that this tourist attraction is their means of making a living. Before the whale shark feeding began the island saw virtually no tourism dollars.

Fans of getting the whale shark feeding program shut down have started a Facebook page protesting the activity.  They page has over 900 likes and they call the activity, exploitation and abuse.

The whale shark can grow up to 41 feet long and weigh over 47,000 pounds and they live in warm waters.