Whale Shark Satellite Tracking and Sightings Along Western Australia, 2010-2014

Western Australia's coastline from 35°S to 12°S is covered by this dataset on whale shark (Rhincodon typus) movements. It includes satellite tracking data from 14 tagged sharks and public sighting reports from 14 coastal towns, collected between 2010 and 2014. The dataset was provided by Parks Australia to highlight research relevant to Australian Marine Parks.

Use Cases

• Modeling seasonal migration patterns based on satellite tracking and public sightings.
• Identifying potential aggregation hotspots beyond Ningaloo Reef based on areas of increased productivity.
• Analyzing residency patterns at Ningaloo Reef using individual identification data from Wildbook for Whale Sharks.
• Correlating whale shark presence with coastal productivity pulses mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Includes data from 14 satellite-tagged whale sharks ranging from 3 to 9 meters in length.
• Combines multiple data sources: satellite tracking, public interviews from 14 towns, historical sightings, and a photo-identification database.
• Tracks sharks over a mean minimum distance of 1667 (±316 s.e.) km along the coast.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data collection ended in 2014; freshness should be verified for current applications.

Provenance

Source

Parks Australia, referencing a source publication.

Collection Method

Satellite tagging (SPOT and SPLASH tags), photographic identification via Wildbook for Whale Sharks, and public interviews.

Time Range

2010 to 2014

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-15 02:17:44.024048; freshness should be verified

Geography

Western Australian coastline, from 35°S to 12°S, including Ningaloo Reef.