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Whale Shark sightings in New South Wales
Email from Captain Carl, February 2005
On Saturday 4 February 2006, a colleague of mine sighted a Whale Shark about 5 kilometres east of Wollongong, New South Wales.
It was about 5 m long.
My colleague was fishing with a group of customers when the Whale Shark swam over to come alongside his boat. It then stayed there - less than a metre off the side for about 15 minutes. My colleague had to move the boat so his customers could resume fishing.
When the shark first came over to the boat, another larger shark (all dark above - no white spots) was observed about 30 m to 40 m away.
This is the first sighting that I or eight other charter boat operators have heard of around here.
Cheers,
Captain Carl
Illawarra Boat Charter
PS. A week later, what was presumably the same Whale Shark was seen by another charter boat operator off Shellharbour, about 20 km south of Wollongong. The fish stayed around the boat for about 30 minutes.
