A two week whale shark monitoring programme is being run in Djibouti organised by Megaptera and the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles.
The programme is a follow-up study to a programme run during 2006 where this aggregation of whale shark was first scientifically documented. Two weeks of scientific expedition are planned to study whale sharks in the waters of the Gulf of Tadjoura, Djibouti; participants will assist in the collection of data on these sharks (through photographs or videos for photo-identification, tissue sampling for DNA analysis,
compilation of the data, photo-identification matching with previous years,
etc ....).
The expedition will be based aboard the DELI, a two-masted live-aboard dhow of 26m. In the first week 1st to 8th January 2009 there are 4 places available; while in the second week 8th to 15th January there are 5 places available.
Costs per person are Eu 900 for a single week or Eu1600 for the both weeks excluding air-fares; costs include airport to vessel transfers as well as a visit to Lake Assal, the lowest lake on the planet.
Participants should be over the age of 21, in good physical condition and competent swimmers. On site training will be provided into the basic techniques necessary for the programme by the MCSS team.
If you are interested, please send a short CV describing yourself and interests to
sharks@mcss.sc .
