Same Dilemma: Plan A, B, or C

The encouraging news is that I got an email from the director of the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles (MCSS) telling me I was short-listed for the 2011 whale shark internship program they offer (August 24th-Octoer 31st). I will find out either this week or next if I got it. I almost feel like posting this is going to jinx my chances. I thought I didn't get this internship long ago so I haven't really been considering going, so my plan A: Honduras and B: Georgia has taken on the extra element of plan C: Seychelles Islands. <-- SO EXCITED!

I found another organization on the Honduran island, Utila, where my Whale Shark Oceanic Research Center (WSORC) is that claimed to carry out whale shark research. The website is literally called utilawhalesharkresearch.com. I emailed them to see if they were in need of a research assistant and the response was 1 sentence "I am afraid that we are full at that time, also this research does not happen in summer as there are no whale sharks around normally at that time the main time for them is now and the next couple of months." Either he's dumb because Utila is one of the few places in the world where whale sharks can be seen year round or he's being difficult on purpose. Discouraging none the less.

I've found 8 more articles using google scholar but I need to send requests for inter-library loans because only their abstracts were available online.

I've finalized my budget for food, lodging, and program fees for each of my internship possibilities. (Utila, Honduras, Georgia Aquarium, and the Seychelles Islands). I will find out next month whether or not I got into the MCSS or Georgia Aquarium. There are thousands of dollars difference between the 3 programs, so once I know where I'm going this summer I can really start focusing my capstone question and have a dollar amount to be asking for. Because my internship options are national and international I have to meet with the Internship Coordinator AND the director of the International Center to ask for funding. I will be meeting with the International Center this week to begin the process of seeing how they can help me. The problem is that if I go to Honduras I will need the money in the summer; if I go to Seychelles I will need the money in the fall. Only a week or two left of waiting before I'll have my options whittled down again. And that's what I've been up to!

**UPDATE: apparently the WSORC is the only organization that has a whale shark research permit from the Honduran government so even if I somehow managed to convince the Deep Blue Resort to take me on as an intern it wouldn't be that legit. Also, I spoke with the Director of the International Center about international internships and he said there was nothing we could really discuss until I knew which internship I would be accepting. He wanted to set up a meeting in a week or two once I know which country I will be going to (that will determine if I will be leaving in the summer or fall.)

Research Notes

I read a whale shark article or watch a video clip at least once a day because I'm slightly obsessed, so I'll start collecting the useful or interesting ones below:

1. Handwerd, Brian. "Whale Sharks Killed, Displaced by Gulf Oil?" National Geographic Daily News. 24 Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. .

Whale sharks who live or aggregate in the gulf coast may have suffocated because oil from the BP spill clogged their gills or been poisoned because their food source has been contaminated. Scientists don't know where the oil dispersed but whale sharks are found all over the water column. Whale sharks are being sighted other places in the gulf possibly because they are displaced. Hopefully tagging methods can track how much the oil spill has affected the health and migration of these animals.

2. Historic (2002-2009) Whale Shark Sighting Locations Shown within the Estimated Boundaries of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Coverage as of July 2, 2010.2010. Map. University of Southern Mississippi. Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2011. .

3. Whale Sharks: Memory Test - Smart Sharks - Swimming with Roboshark - BBC. Nar. Sir David Attenborough. YouTube. BBC Earth, 12 Jan. 2010. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

In Belize to study whale shark's memory. Each year young males gather at a particular off-shore reef because of snapper spawnig from late afternoon to the full moon. Whale sharks somehow learn where the snappers are and remember the same location to return to each year (unlike salmon that follow a chemical trail).

4. Viajeros Del Pacífico. Dir. Alejandro Balaguer. Prod. Albatros Media. Whale Sharks Featured in Award-winning Documentary following the Work of Tropical Research Institute’s Héctor Guzman. Smithsonian Institution, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. .

Héctor M. Guzman les marcan tiburon ballenas en el golfo de panama (el oeste lado del pais) que transmiten una señal exactamente donde el tiburon ballena emerge del oceano. Fueron tiburon ballens que volvieron a la costa de Costa Rica, Nicaragua, y Mexico.

5. Wiley-Blackwell. "Whale sharks use geometry to avoid sinking." ScienceDaily 27 November 2010. 19 February 2011 .

Whale sharks movement. They don't expend energy when descending, only when ascending ("negative buoyancy"). Helps save energy when swimming long distances.

Moving Right Along...

So my plan has been to move forward with the Honduras idea and Georgia Aquarium idea so that next month when I find out if I got the Georgia internship I will already be prepared with a plan A and plan B. I realize the assignment for this week has been to do exploratory research about your topic, but honestly I've invested most of my time into trying to find out how to get more internship money from the school.

I found some whale sharks on the "animal tracking" feature of Google Earth and had fun exploring that. I found 2 other documentaries that featured whale sharks. I found an article talking about the effects of the Gulf oil spill on the negative buoyancy of whale sharks.... I'll add those links a little later on today.

The progress I've made this week has primarily been looking at flight and lodging information for Honduras, preparing for my SCUBA certification at the end of the month, emailing and re-emailing directors of the internships I'm looking at, and researching the steps into getting SCOP money, a GEL grant, a summer and/or fall internship scholarship, and following up with what the IS department offered to help out with. Also, I told my mom and dad about going to Honduras or Georgia this week, haha.

Progress Leads to a New Dilemma

The main bit of progress I made this week was officially applying for the Summer 2011 Husbandry Internship with the Ocean Voyager and Tropical Diver exhibits at the Georgia Aquarium. Between the application, resume, and cover letter, I had a lot to sweat over.

Also, I had an excellent Skype conversation with the old director of the WSORC (in Honduras) which has now left me scratching my head again about the exact direction I want to take for this project. I presented my option 1 and option 2 to him and he pointed out that the Georgia Aquarium is easier, closer and offers a higher chance of seeing a whale sharks than in Honduras. But then we got started talking about the ethics of aquariums and "no matter how big an aquarium is, it will never be big enough for a whale shark" (let alone the 4 they have in the Georgia Aquarium. Not to mention the fact it was "built" to hold 2 more! It's such a joke that someone gets paid to design the caged parameters for wild animals. Rarely, if ever, will it be the appropriate dimensions. I'm sure it's based more on a layout that visitors find convenient instead of maximizing the land use for the animals themselves). I know the ethical issues with zoos and aquariums. Environmental studies (one of my emphases) is basically just studying ethical issues and arguing over the philosophical un-answerable questions brought up. But something about talking with this director just clicked with me. The sight of a whale shark in an aquarium is enough to captivate me, and it is probably that sense of wonder that lulls me into the mindset that whale sharks are ok in their tank because if I'm enjoying the experience, surely they are too. <--- Wrong. Also, Dawn's comment was extremely helpful by pointing out that working at an aquarium could be an opportunity to study exactly in what ways research in aquariums is flawed. Is the information we're learning worth the cost of kidnapping whale sharks from their homes and permanently disrupting them? How accurate can behavior, feeding, and breeding be studied? Right now I'm convinced the only truly accurate research the Georgia Aquarium carries out with whale sharks is the genetic sampling they do. But now they have those samples, so there's no more need to house the specimens. Samples can be taken in the wild too though. Breeding research would be the other useful thing to study with whale sharks in an aquarium because they have never been seen mating or giving birth. Only recently was it discovered that whale sharks are viviparous. For everything else: migration, feeding, environmental interactions, behavior, age... I'm under the impression it's best to study it out in the wild.

So now what? I won't find out if I got the Georgia Aquarium internship until next month. That will determine my timeline for everything else. I am really digging this idea of comparing whale shark research done in the wild with the research done in an aquarium. Too bad I can't do effective research in Honduras because they don't have a freaking research scientist on staff! So I guess I need to just assume I'm going to Honduras. The volunteer coordinator is waiting for me to send word of when i'm coming and for how long. I feel like i'm years behind Jessica in getting scholarships, so that will be the focus of my progress for next week. Things to work on for next week will be figuring out how to pay for Honduras and planning what I'm going to teach everyone about whale sharks... and how to say all that in Spanish.

Option 1 or Option 2?

The way I see it, I have 2 real options for an internship, thus leading to a capstone project. Ideally I would be able to do both, but there's a possibility I might not get either. Last week I was busy trying to coordinate and think through my options.

OPTION 1) Volunteer at the Whale Shark Oceanic Research Center (WSORC), an organization located on an island off the coast of Honduras. I finally received an email from their volunteer coordinator (2 months and 2 phone calls to Honduras later...). They are open to volunteers coming to help with education and whale shark encounters. Doesn't sound like there is any application process to fill out, the volunteer coordinator just wanted me to let her know when I'd be coming. As a volunteer I would be expected to do the following:

- Staff the WSORC information center and answer visitor inquiries

- Research/design/produce informational materials in English and Spanish

- Research/design/teach whale shark programs to local school children in English and Spanish

- Present whale shark information sessions to Utila Lodge guests/island visitors

- Serve as crew on whale shark encounter snorkel boat trips

OPTION 2) Be a husbandry intern at the Georgia Aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium is one of the only aquariums in the world to have whale sharks on exhibit. I planned on moving to Georgia anyways after graduation to work at that aquarium because they continue research both at the facility and in Mexico. As a husbandry intern my duties would include:

 Diet preparation and feeding

 Collecting and delivering water samples

 Commissary clean-up

 Exhibit and husbandry area maintenance

 Behavioral observations

 Animal enrichment

 Data recording and data entry

 Assisting biologists with animal handling and medical procedures

 Attending and participating in staff and departmental meetings

So the way I look at it Option 1 would give me the chance to do a whale shark conservation project by researching/designing/producing materials to educate locals and tourists. It would also give me the chance to share my message with locals who have the stewardship to take care of whale sharks and rich tourists who could potentially give donations down the road. It would also let me see how whale shark ecotourism works first hand by being a crew member of their snorkel excursions. Option 2 would give me the chance to do more of the scientific research I find fascinating about whale sharks. I will be able to care for whale sharks in a completely different setting than in the wild. The other advantage of option 2 is that I want to end up working at the Georgia Aquarium so having a husbandry internship through them would be helpful when applying. Right now I am moving forward with both options until one of them falls into place or I know the direction I want to take.

I also feel like I should share my feelings about the comments I've received thus far. First of all, thank you for the encouragement. I'm still so bashful to be publicly announcing I have this weird quirk obsession with whale sharks. The Discovery Channel and shark week were mentioned or implied once or twice and since I have the forum to let my opinions be heard, here it is: as much as I like sharks, I do not like shark week that much. The Discovery Channel needs to branch out a little on shark diversity. Shark week seems like it's a week long slew of shark attack stories and the Discovery Channel should change their direction and use shark week as a chance to show that sharks are not dangerous man-eaters. I have thought about contacting Discovery and requesting they do an episode on whale sharks... or any other shark for that matter besides the great white or tiger shark. What that all boils down to is that the only reason I would try to work closely with the Discovery Channel's shark week would be to demand a change of pace and get more segments of awe-inspiring (whale shark) or elusive (Greenland shark) species.

One last thing. For those of you who don't get what the "big deal" is about whale sharks, click here to see my absolute favorite whale shark video. Absolutely inspiring. Feel free to wander to this link after a long and stressful day. I swear it helps.

Save the Whales...shark

Initially I said I wanted my capstone project to study how the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year negatively affected the annual aggregate of whale sharks found off the Yucatan Peninsula. It had been recently discovered that whale sharks use negative buoyancy to propel themselves through the ocean, which is rare with most fish. Now the concern is that because whale sharks naturally sink, oil residue could impede their ability to maintain movement-- meaning whale sharks could be stranded helpless on the ocean floor. There are many other risks whale sharks face because of the oil spill and research on all aspects of their survival needs to be carried out. The opportunity is there, I just don't see how I can look into it unless I get an internship specializing in this. Not to mention it's still a very broad topic to research how the oil spill has negatively affected whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico.

Then I switched my idea half way through the paper to focus more on the successful elements of whale shark ecotourism by studying established companies in Honduras, Seychelles, Australia, etc. My dream career would involve working on ecotourism projects that help sustain local human and whale shark populations while making the entire operation ecofriendly and profitable. Even though I love whale shark ecotourism I wasn't happy with that idea either because I have 0 business background nor am I interested in solely looking at the different businesses's economic success.

Another element of whale sharks that intrigues me are the methods that whale shark information is collected. There are many different tagging methods and a type that is gaining popularity is a type of photo identification that can be performed by recreational divers across the world. The technology originally developed to recognize star patterns in space has been utilized to match the unique pigment patterns found on every individual whale shark. It is a new technique that is gaining popularity but there are aspects to be investigated such as how much data submitted by the public is helpful and useable.

My passion really is whale shark conservation. Someone left me a great feedback last Monday suggesting I develop a whale shark toy, story, character, hero, etc because it will help "[instill] the value of whale sharks in youth" so rising generations will be aware of their awesomeness and understand the importance of protecting that species. The Sea Shepherd had this same idea about sharks in general and launched campaign about "Ron el tiburon" (tiburon=shark). Hmmm... is there a way for me to somehow do my own campaign to raise awareness of whale sharks and promote their conservation? Wow, that does not sound like me. I am definitely more comfortable with the idea of whale shark field researching and leaving the activists to do the dirty work. This idea has only slowly dawned on me as I was writing, so please give input/encouragement/a reality check if I need one about doing a "save the whale [shark] campaign".