WHALE sharks have returned to the waters off Ngapali Beach for the first time in three years and for the first time since the Myanmar government declared them a protected species in March 2001.

About four of the harmless sharks, the world’s largest fish species, were spotted off Ngapali Beach on January 11 by a group of German and Myanmar plastic surgeons on a boating trip.

The group was astonished when the whale sharks surfaced near the boat just before sunset, said Oliver E. Soe Thet, the president of the Myanmar Chef’s Association, who was aboard the vessel.

“I’d been hoping to see the magnificent creatures but a fisherman had told me that there were no more whale sharks in Ngapali waters. Or at least there hadn’t been for three years,” he said.

“And then there they were, the Wala Nga. Two pairs of whale sharks were circling each other in what looked to me like marriage dance in the Bay of Bengal.”

Some of the doctors on the boat had binoculars and U Oliver Soe Thet said he was able to borrow a pair and observe a big male close up.

“I looked through the binoculars and spotted a big bull directly in front of me. First I saw the back fin, and then the tail moving in and out of the water.

“Then the whole of its upper body emerged, moving gently and smoothly through the sea. It was so dramatic,” he said.

The whale shark disappeared and the skipper slowed the boat. The whale shark reappeared, this time behind the boat and very close.

“If we wanted to we could have reached out from the boat and touched this giant fish.”

There were several other sightings and another whale shark swam close to the front of the boat, allowing the wife of one of the German doctors to film it.

“The whale shark opened its mouth and it was big enough for a Volkswagen Beetle to fit in,” said U Oliver E. Soe Thet.