Whale watching in Sarangani Bay

SARANGANI BAY -- As part of the Sarangani government's move to preserve its bay, a group composed of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) members, volunteers from environmental groups, and tourism coordinators conducted surveys to identify and document marine mammal life in the area.

Led by WWF Philippines chief executive officer Lorie Tan, the expedition team jumped off from the Tinoto wall in Maasim for the second of its two-day expedition.

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The team spent almost 10 hours per day for two days on a boat circling the bay from Maasim to Kiamba to offshore of Glan, surveying the bay for sightings of marine mammals such as whales and dolphins.

Leaving the Tinoto docks early at 5:30 a.m., the group was greeted by the welcome sight of a pygmy sperm whale less than 30 minutes into the trip and just off the coast of Maasim. Additional individual whales of other species were sighted by noontime, proving that Sarangani Bay is home to an abundance of these marine mammals.

"We plan to hold this activity regularly to have a better idea of the habits of the local marine mammal community," said Michelle Solon, Sarangani tourism coordinator.

"There have been numerous sightings of such animals by local residents but this is the first time that we have confirmed it visually, and the presence of the WWF on this trip greatly helps with proper documentation which was nonexistent before."

Members of the expedition went through a series of training on May 22, from identifying the different species of marine mammals to the preservation and protection of wildlife. Attending the training were different environmental agencies of the local government, volunteers from non-government organizations, and local tourism agencies.

In line with these events, environmentalist and painter Amado Saño, along with other artists, painted wall murals in Maasim and Kiamba schools depicting the plight of marine mammals worldwide. Hopefully, this would raise the awareness of local communities.

Saño started creating his murals in March this year and has so far painted 600 dolphins in walls, gates, and residences across the country.

He plans to accomplish 400 more in Sarangani within the next few days. As part of his advocacy, Saño's goal is to paint 23,000 dolphins across the country, to represent the number of dolphins slaughtered in a seven-month period in Japan alone.