Whale sharks in São Tomé & Principe

In the past 75 years, the numbers of migrating whale sharks gathering in São Tomé & Principe waters are estimated to have halved.  

In July 2024, Blue Marine undertook a successful scoping trip to São Tomé. This provided a great opportunity to connect with local partners, meet government representatives, understand the context of the work, and see first-hand the challenges being faced by fishing communities.  

Education and outreach are key components of the work here. Over the Swell has recruited and trained four former spear-fishers as conservation rangers, and a further 20 fishers as volunteer citizen scientists. With their help, Over the Swell has engaged more than 3,000 artisanal fishers, explaining the importance of whale sharks and other shark species to local ecosystems, and exploring the use of more sustainable and safer methods for small-scale fishers. 

In 2023, Blue Marine teamed up with Over the Swell, a group focused on whale shark conservation and fishing community engagement in São Tomé and Principe (STP) – situated in the Gulf of Guinea, off the west coast of Africa. With our support, Over the Swell has monitored whale sharks in STP waters, recording more than 70 official observations. This data has been presented to the STP government, resulting in the inclusion of whale sharks as a protected species on two new government decrees: the Fishing Act, and the Marine Protected Area Act. These are now awaiting ministerial approval.