IT's a beautiful but rare sight - a seven metre whale shark cruises past divers off the Far Northern coast in a spotting tipped to be the only one of the year.
The animal can be seen casually passing divers in rare footage available on cairns.com.au while crew video and snap the incident at Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea on Saturday.
Sharks in action snapped off Cairns | More pictures: Cairns tiger shark snaps | More video: sharks feeding on a whale carcass
Shark expert John Rumney said the shark fishing trade and the animal’s nomadic nature reduced sightings around the Great Barrier Reef to one or two a year.
“It’s a very rare sighting,” he said.
“They are open-ocean creatures and whale sharks travel from here up to Indonesia and huge distances. They are being impacted heavily by the shark fi shing industry.”
Spirit of Freedom diver Clem Trauttmansdorff filmed the incident and said 18 tourists enjoyed the event on the company’s live-aboard boat.
“It’s extremely rare, you don’t see it at all,” he
said.
The spotting comes amid revelations whale sharks are being slaughtered and sold in a back-street Hong Kong shark fin market.
The fins of the gentle giants are sold for $300 each and used as window displays in shark fin shops in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan market district.
The Federal Government is facing pressure to confront Hong Kong over the trade.
