Field work blog – Post 1
Finally! Departed Cebu in the Philippines, on a big yellow bus to start field work at the highly controversial Oslob Whale Sharks.
Oslob is a community based dive tourism operation, where local fishers paddle tourists out on small banca (unmotorised outrigger canoes) to watch, snorkel or dive with whale sharks, 364 days a year. Oslob is probably the most successful community based dive operation in the world. Divers either love it or hate it. Boycotting Oslob is still a popular topic of conversation. But why?
My bright spot case study of Oslob was designed to research the impacts of Oslob Whale Sharks on the creation of livelihoods for local fishers and their community and on the conservation of whale sharks, coral reefs and fish stocks. Come along and see what it was like to spend 2 months researching the world’s most controversial whale shark dive site.
