Last night you saw our feature on the Hol Chan Marine Reserve where our Courtney Weatherburne went snorkeling with nurse sharks in Shark Ray Alley. Now although these friendly sharks were just an arm’s length away, visitors are not to touch them. The technical manager of the reserve Kirah Castillo gave some tips for tourists and spoke about their collaboration with Mar Alliance to better study these creatures.
Kirah Castillo - Technical Manager, Hol Chan Marine Reserve
"The Mar Alliance, their focus is on mega fauna and so for the past few years, they have been conducting research at shark ray alley to look at the population of the sharks and the rays and health of the population within the area. So they are doing that at different sites throughout the country but shark ray alley is one of those sites that they are studying to better understand the population size and the movements of the sharks. So we're working with them and they are doing the actual research and that information is fed back to us that we can use for management."
Courtney Weatherburne
"In terms of tips for tourist, it's not that you go and touch them or feed them, you're not supposed to touch or feed them?"
Kirah Castillo
"No, so we don't allow people to touch, harass or handle the sharks. We want them (animals) to be as comfortable but it can also be an accident for people grabbing and holding on to them. Rays have a thin mucus layer, so then you touch them, you release that and then they open their tissue to diseases, it's also safety for the animal as well. So why we do allow feeding at shark ray alley, we don't allow it to be done by guest and only by tour guides and even the tour guides are not allowed to be handling the sharks and the rays."
To find out more about the Hol Chan tours you can visit their website. Â
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