The death of a 17.5-foot butanding (whale shark) in Manila Bay last week has confounded marine biologists and nature experts. Whale sharks are usually found in Donsol, Sorsogon, as well as in Batangas and Quezon, and the shark, which died Oct. 28 after attempts to haul it to shore for revival failed, was the third to die on Manila Bay in three years. Apparently, the creature had been lured into the bay by the increase of plankton and krill, which the whale shark feeds on.

While feeding on plankton, the female whale shark was exposed to pollution, which could have caused its system to collapse. After a necropsy, plastic products and iron nails were found in the stomach of the female butanding. In addition, the eyes of the creature had practically been gouged out.

A private environment group has called the injuries “strange,” and authorities have not given any official finding on their cause. Fishermen in the area had towed the creature to shore, and denied causing it any injury.

Although popularly called a whale, the butanding is not a mammal but a fish (rhincodon typus); it is the biggest fish in the ocean. Its kind could measure up to 20 meters long and weigh up to 32 tons. Although also popularly called sharks, they are not dangerous. They are indifferent to divers and swim very leisurely, making them a favorite of tourists. They can live as long as 100 years.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has classified whale sharks as vulnerable species, which means they face high risk of extinction in the wilds in the medium term. In the Philippines, the whale shark is protected by the Philippine Fisheries Code (Republic Act 8550) of 1998, which bans the fishing or taking of rare, threatened, or endangered species. Violators face 12 to 20 years of imprisonment and a P120,000 fine.

But even stringent rules don’t stop incidents such as the one in September 2006 when a female butanding caught in a fishing net in Sangay, Camarines Sur, was hacked with a bolo.

As a result of the killing and trapping of the butanding, the creature has become scarce in the areas where it usually congregated. And perhaps because of the widespread condemnation of what happened in Camarines Sur in 2006, enforcement of RA 8550 has become more strict lately.

Reports of butanding being caught in fish nets in Albay, Batangas and Quezon have been positive: the creatures were released back to sea. Last March, a butanding was spotted swimming in a Quezon port. It was left untouched by the fishing residents, who alerted the authorities and let their children play with the creature. Town officials and environmentalists later led the creature back to the deep sea.

But the recent death of a large female whale shark in Manila Bay should reinforce efforts to educate fishermen and everyone on the butanding. Moreover, it should impress upon authorities the need to clean up and rehabilitate Manila Bay if only because fishermen bank on the bay for their livelihood and more and more sea creatures have been lately spotted there in what biologists would call as “out-of-habitat sightings.” (Last December, the lifeless body of a baleen whale was found floating beside a passenger ship in Manila Bay.)

The uncharacteristic sightings have been attributed to climate change. Environmentalists say changes in sea temperature and water currents may adversely affect marine animals, causing them confusion and erratic behavior like beaching.

Of course, with or without whale sharks beaching themselves on Manila Bay, the rehabilitation of the bay is an urgent necessity. Pollution has reached unmitigated proportions. The terrible amount of waste, particularly non-biodegradable waste like plastic, has proven fatal to fishing resources. Many of the waste come from the Pasig River and its tributaries that have become veritable septic tanks that are not only a bane to health but, as the “Ondoy” disaster has shown, a chief factor in the terrible flooding that sank entire towns and drowned hundreds of lives. Balance in the ecology should be restored, and the Manila Bay, once restored, should provide a showcase of that restored balance, an authentic symbiosis between nature and creature.