Oman · Global Whale Shark Program · Since 2024

Oman Whale Shark Project

Mapping the Gulf of Oman's whale shark aggregation, documenting the injuries its sharks suffer from vessel strikes and fishing gear, and building the Omani partnerships that can protect them.

319whale sharks identified in Oman's waters

30sharks photo-identified in the June 2025 field season

9satellite tags deployed, the first on whale sharks in Omani waters

788ships a month, on average, in the core whale shark habitat off Musandam, the highest density of any aggregation studied

The Arabian Sea and its adjacent waters hold some of the largest whale shark aggregations on Earth, and some of the most threatened by ship collisions. Off Muscat, our 2025 field season documented sharks injured by boats and fishing gear, and national legal protection for the species is a goal of our work in Oman.

MMF’s Oman program began in 2024, building on the Sharkwatch Arabia citizen-science network, founded by Dr. David Robinson, that has documented whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) in the region since 2010. We ran our first dedicated whale shark field season in Omani waters in June 2025, working from Al Mouj Marina in Muscat with local dive operators. We now combine that fieldwork with a growing network of divers, operators, researchers, and government partners to map the aggregation, understand its threats, and work toward protection.

Objectives

Map the Muscat and Daymaniyat Islands aggregation and quantify its threats: seasonal extent, demographics, residency, and where sharks and vessel traffic overlap.
Engage the people on the water, from fishers to tour operators, so that simple changes in practice reduce injuries to sharks.
Build national research capacity, so Omani researchers at Sultan Qaboos University and in government agencies lead the monitoring program.
Progress toward national legal protection for whale sharks in Oman, starting with consensus on speed limits, vessel routes, and safe-release protocols.

A whale shark feeding at the surface off Oman, June 2025

What we've done

Reactivated and expanded the Sharkwatch Arabia network across Oman and the UAE, linked to the Sharkbook.ai identification database. The catalog now holds 319 whale sharks identified in Oman’s waters.
Completed our first dedicated whale shark field season in Oman in June 2025: 19 days at sea from Muscat, 30 sharks photo-identified, and nine satellite tags deployed, the first ever placed on whale sharks in Omani waters.
Documented boat-strike injuries on half the sharks we identified in 2025 and fishing-gear scars on a tenth, a very high rate compared with other whale shark aggregations.
Ran a workshop with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, whose staff then joined the research vessel for three field days.
Gave a public presentation with the Environment Society of Oman that recruited new citizen-science contributors.
Briefed tour operators working around Muscat and the Daymaniyat Islands on whale shark biology and our findings, and on the code of conduct being developed by One Ocean, the Environment Society of Oman, and partners.
Collected small tissue samples (biopsies) from ten sharks, now stored at Sultan Qaboos University for future genetic and diet studies.
Built an operator WhatsApp network that now functions as a real-time threat-detection channel, alerting the community to injured or entangled sharks within hours.
Presented the Oman Whale Shark Research Project at Sharks International 2026.

What's next

Publish the satellite-tracking analysis of the nine tagged sharks, and a comparison with David Robinson’s Qatar tracking data.
Deliver a whale shark conservation workshop and training with the Environment Authority of Oman.
Run a fisher-engagement workshop with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, focused on safer ways to fish for cobia, a large fish that often swims alongside whale sharks.
Train Omani researchers at Sultan Qaboos University, with a PhD on Oman whale sharks as the goal.
Return for a dedicated field season with real-time, fin-mounted satellite tags.
Build stakeholder agreement on voluntary speed reductions, adjusted vessel routes, and safe-release protocols as the foundation for national protection.

Support whale shark research in Oman

A satellite tag records where a shark spends the next six months, and a field season puts the team in the water with the sharks. Sponsor a tag, or give to the program.

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Our work in Oman

Population assessment

Photo-identification, based on the unique spot pattern behind each shark’s gills, underpins this work, and the regional catalog now holds 319 sharks identified in Omani waters. A 2016 study led by Dr. David Robinson, with Dr. Chris Rohner and Dr. Simon Pierce among its co-authors, photo-identified 422 whale sharks across the Arabian Gulf and the northern Gulf of Oman between 2011 and 2014. Thirteen of those sharks were resighted away from where they were first recorded, linking the waters of Qatar, Oman, and the UAE, with some moving into and out of the Arabian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. The study estimated a combined population of roughly 2,800 whale sharks for the two gulfs. The next step is a population estimate for the Muscat and Daymaniyat Islands aggregation itself.

A snorkeler photographs a whale shark's spot pattern off Oman

Habitat protection

The Muscat and Daymaniyat Islands aggregation lies beside the Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve; whale sharks themselves, however, have no species-level legal protection in Oman, a gap the 2025 IUCN Red List assessment names as an important conservation goal. Combined with the sightings record, our satellite tags, which record depth, temperature, and light levels (used to estimate each shark’s position) for months before releasing and transmitting their data, will show which sites matter most and when. That is the evidence the Environment Authority of Oman can use to design protection that follows the sharks rather than the map.

Threats

Whale sharks off Muscat are injured by vessel strikes and fishing gear: of the 30 sharks identified in 2025, half bore vessel-strike injuries and a tenth carried fishing-gear scars. Tourist boats overlap directly with the aggregation, and fishers target the cobia that swim with whale sharks; the team saw one boat drive directly over a shark to reach them. Farther north, a 2024 global analysis, co-authored by our team, found that the core whale shark habitat off Musandam, at the Strait of Hormuz, carried the highest ship density of any aggregation studied, an average of 788 ships a month, and ranked it among the sites most urgently needing measures to reduce collisions. Offshore, the Indian Ocean’s tuna drift-gillnet fishery, which lands about a third of the ocean’s tuna catch, is treated by the 2025 Red List assessment as a major threat to whale sharks. Overlaying the tracked sharks’ movements on the distribution of boats and nets will show where risk is concentrated, and therefore where a change would help most.