The Northern Territory news Wed 14 Mar 2012
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2012-03-14
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English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
Darwin
application/pdf
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Nationwide News Pty. Limited
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/238758
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/630608
www.ntnews.com.au Wednesday, March 14, 2012. NT NEWS. 55 P U B : NTNE-WS-DA-TE:14-GE:55 CO-LO-R: C-M Y-K ntnews.com.aul l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l WEATHER Warm-watermonster spottedway down south A fisherman encountered a whale shark in the Southern Ocean the first time one has been seen so far south Picture: WA TOURISM PERTH: A West Australian sardine fisherman has described how a rare tropical whale shark surfaced near his boat in the Southern Ocean, surprising him and local scientists. Whale sharks are the worlds biggest fish, growing to more than 12m, and are normally found only in tropical waters. But the harmless endangered species which feeds predominantly on plankton has come under increasing threat from Asian shark-finners. The Southern Ocean sighting is a possible sign of behavioural change, say scientists. Albany commercial fisherman Peter Westerberg described how he was in King George Sound, about 420km southeast of Perth, in the early hours of Saturday when the blue-and-whitespotted giant bumped up against his net. I looked over and there was a giant bulge it was massive, Mr Westerberg said yesterday. First thing I thought it was a (white) pointer. But then I saw four foot of its tail and body out of the water, and it just sort of waved at me. I could have reached out and touched it. Once Mr Westerberg realised it was a whale shark, he knew he was witnessing a rare event and contacted local marine biologist Brad Norman as soon as he got back to shore. Mr Norman told him it was the first time a whale shark had been spotted so far south. He said its behaviour was typical of whale sharks, which like to rub themselves against fishing nets to see if they can get a free feed, Mr Westerberg said. It was scratching itself it gave me a bit of a start. When you wake up in the morning to go sardine fishing on the south coast of Australia, you dont expect whale sharks to be on your agenda. It was just a beautiful thing to see. Mr Norman, who works for non-profit conservation organisation ECOCEAN, said the whale shark had been spotted by a police aircraft on the same day. He said Mr Westerberg had clearly recognised the rare species. He loved the fact it was covered in spots, he said. Given that whale sharks are normally a warmwater species, its amazing that this animal was recorded down there. Mr Norman said the spotting had followed similar first-time sightings off the coast of Dunsborough, about 280km south of Perth, in January and off Fremantle two weeks earlier. He said it was too early to confirm if the sightings were related to behavioural changes brought on by overfishing in the tropics. ntnews.com.aul l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l FISHING