{"id":20883,"date":"2013-08-01T09:47:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T09:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/tourism-was-adopted-whale-shark-named-after-teenage-tumour-victim-2\/"},"modified":"2013-08-01T09:47:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-01T09:47:00","slug":"tourism-was-adopted-whale-shark-named-after-teenage-tumour-victim-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2013\/08\/tourism-was-adopted-whale-shark-named-after-teenage-tumour-victim-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourism WA\u2019s adopted whale shark named after teenage tumour victim"},"content":{"rendered":"

A seven metre male whale shark tagged in the Ningaloo Marine Park and \u2018adopted\u2019 by Tourism WA has been named \u2018Boo Boo\u2019 in honour of a 15 year-old Perth boy who died six months ago from a brain tumour.<\/span><\/span>

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Trent D\u2019Silva swam with the whale sharks at Ningaloo last year as a wish after he was diagnosed with the tumour.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\"MVI_5923.MOV.Still003[1]\"<\/a>\u201cIt was a highlight of his short life,\u201d said Trent\u2019s mother Leonna.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen we saw the competition to name the adopted whale shark we thought it would be a lovely way to remember a wonderful boy. \u2018Boo Boo\u2019 was the nickname Trent was given by his sister, Courtney.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWe also want other families in similar circumstances to be able to enjoy the amazing experience we had up at Exmouth and Ningaloo, and we are working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to raise money for that.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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Tourism WA CEO Stephanie Buckland said more than 1,000 entries were received during the six week Facebook competition to name the whale shark, and an online poll of a final shortlist overwhelmingly supported the name Boo Boo.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cWe think Boo Boo is a great name for our whale shark and thank the D\u2019Silva family for sharing it with us. It is an honour to help them pay tribute to Trent in this way,\u201d Ms Buckland said.<\/span><\/div>\n
Tourism WA \u2018adopted\u2019 Boo Boo in partnership with whale shark research and conservation organisation ECOCEAN<\/a> Inc.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cWe wanted to share and support research into one of Western Australia\u2019s most extraordinary visitor experiences, swimming with the whale sharks,\u201d Ms Buckland said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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A satellite tag was placed on Boo Boo in the waters of the Ningaloo Marine Park in April this year by whale shark researcher Brad Norman from ECOCEAN, with the moment captured on film<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n

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The tag is a new, less intrusive design which will release after about six months to minimise the impact on the fish.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Ningaloo Reef is one of the few places on Earth where people can swim alongside these gentle giants of the deep, which can grow up to 18 metres.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cThe annual whale shark migration to Ningaloo is one of Western Australia\u2019s truly extraordinary experiences and attracts visitors from around the world,\u201d Ms Buckland said.<\/span><\/div>\n

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\u201cThe adoption and tagging of Boo Boo will support important research and conservation efforts to ensure the experience remains sustainable for future generations to enjoy. Currently very little is known about the migration patterns of whale sharks.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

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One of ECOCEAN\u2019s key initiatives is its whale shark photo-identification library, a visual database of whale shark encounters, which welcomes photos from members of the public. The spots on each whale shark are unique and by receiving photo submissions of individual whale sharks, the program can track their movements and population numbers.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Tourism WA has also developed a Facebook app<\/a> to show ECOCEAN\u2019s research and conservation efforts, as well as enable the agency\u2019s Facebook community to share whale shark experiences.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Whale sharks visit the warm waters of Ningaloo Reef each year between April and July, during which time visitors can swim with them on dedicated eco tours departing from Exmouth and Coral Bay. For more information on this experience and holidaying in Western Australia visit www.westernaustralia.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Facebook users can find out more about extraordinary WA at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ExtraordinaryWesternAustralia<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A seven metre male whale shark tagged in the Ningaloo Marine Park and \u2018adopted\u2019 by Tourism WA has been named \u2018Boo Boo\u2019 in honour of a 15 year-old Perth boy who died six months ago from a brain tumour. Trent D\u2019Silva swam with the whale sharks at Ningaloo last year as a wish after he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}