Photo: Illustration by Kelsey Kin. Retrieved from ensia.com
Cruising the crystal-blue waters off Mafia Island, Tanzania, you never feel alone. Boats of all shapes and sizes glide past, fishing the nutrient-rich Mafia channel. Seabirds circle overhead, looking to snag a bit of catch for their morning meal. And you may be lucky enough to catch sight of a dorsal fin cutting through the water or watch the spotted head of a famous Mafia Island whale shark bob past.
Standing by the helm of our boat with eyes set on the water’s surface is Juma Salum — a resident of Mafia, a whale shark tour coordinator and current chairman of WATONET, the Whale Shark Tourism Operators Network of Tanzania. WATONET formed in 2020 to organize and advocate for those working in the growing whale shark tourism industry on Mafia Island, often referred to as a “hidden gem” located south of Zanzibar in the southwestern Indian Ocean. Even though it’s a young organization, already its work developing a code of conduct for whale shark tours, advocating for the industry’s workers, and promoting conservation and environmental education in Mafia Island’s schools and communities has dramatically improved the island’s tourism and capacity for conservation.
The idea for WATONET was born in the early days of 2020. Salum and several tour operators approached staff from WWF — who support marine conservation in Mafia and on the mainland — for advice on how to strengthen their efforts to self-organize and grow the whale shark tourism industry on the island. Over the span of a few years — and despite the drop in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic — the two groups worked together to create WATONET, develop a charter, and advance shared goals around conservation education and community engagement, with WWF supporting the goals set by WATONET members. To this day, the two organizations work closely to support a sustainable and equitable whale shark tourism industry.