{"id":53934,"date":"2020-08-30T12:07:32","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T13:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/?p=53934"},"modified":"2021-05-14T11:10:55","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T12:10:55","slug":"international-whale-shark-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/international-whale-shark-day\/","title":{"rendered":"International Whale Shark Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The International Whale shark day has arrived and it could not be in a better moment with the current situation in the Azores!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whale sharks have been sighted these day<\/a>s on the surrounding areas of Santa Mar\u00eda and Sao Miguel island, which is quite a unique sighting here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last whale shark sighted by Futurismo goes back to 2008! And last year, only a fisherman could see one of these amazing creatures in the surrounding areas. However, this summer we already spotted 2 different individuals during our whale watching tours and many others have been seen by other companies and fishermen! It is definitely a whale shark summer for all of us here in Sao Miguel!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 All of these sightings coincide with the information detailed by the IUCN, which determines that the distribution of whale sharks is expanding in the Azores, mostly due to climate change and fluctuations in the water temperature, because as we already know whale sharks prefer to swim in warmer waters that’s why the can be spotted here in the Azores during summer time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though their distribution is expanding, the whale shark’s population is decreasing, in fact it is catalogued as an endangered species on the UICN Red List.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 And by celebrating this day we want to raise awareness about the biggest fish in the world, the Whale Shark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can find some more interesting facts about their ecology, threats and how to identify them on the poster that is attached just below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n