Sadly it appears that the whale shark that was found in Hong Kong waters on Friday, was found dead on Sunday. The fish was caught on Friday at 11am, taken to Aberdeen at 1pm and only released at 4:30pm (after hawker, Mark Gon, paid the fisherman HKD20,000 to release it). There’s a good chance that the stress of being caught contributed to its death.
If Hong Kong had rules against catching such vulnerable species, there’s a good chance that this one would have been released considerably sooner, increasing its survival chances. Unfortunately that is not the case and Hong Kong’s regulations are outdated and inadequate.
If you are an SCMP subscriber they have an article here.
