Saleh Bay whale shark nursery: what the baby shark records show

By Saleh Bay Whale Shark Editorial Desk

Is there a Saleh Bay whale shark nursery? Possibly, but it is unproven. In 2024 fishers reported a very small shark several times, and a male newborn of about 135 to 145 centimetres came up in a lift-net. The paper's authors say the bay may serve as a pupping and early nursery area. Another researcher thinks the newborn came from elsewhere.

What was found in Saleh Bay in 2024?

Two kinds of record, of different strength, both from bagans, the lit lift-net platforms that fish the bay at night. They are described in a paper in the journal Diversity, which is the source for this section unless stated.

The second record is stronger because it concerns one caught animal with a stated sex and length range. The first depends on the eyes and judgement of people on a working boat at night. The paper itself admits what those five reports can and cannot show.

The authors say these are the first neonatal whale sharks recorded in Indonesia. That is their claim about the published record, and we have no reason to doubt it, though first records can be overtaken by older unpublished ones.

How rare are neonate records?

Nobody has much to compare them with. According to the same paper, only 33 sightings of individuals under 1.5 metres had been reported worldwide before this work, and no whale shark pupping or nursery ground had been identified anywhere. So the honest answer to "where are whale sharks born?" is that science has not found out.

Knowledge of how they reproduce is equally thin. Only one pregnant whale shark has ever been examined by science, caught off Taiwan and carrying about 300 embryos at different stages. The BBC gives the figure as 304 fertilised eggs and embryos, a small difference between sources on what is still a single animal.

Size gives some sense of scale. The smallest free-swimming neonate in the paper's review measured 59 centimetres, so the Saleh Bay animal, at over twice that length, was not the smallest known. It was still far smaller than the sharks visitors normally see, and the authors call it a neonate. Most sharks people meet at bagans here are juveniles or sub-adults already several metres long. A trip advert using the word "baby" is not evidence of a newborn.

Does this prove a Saleh Bay whale shark nursery?

No. The paper's own wording is that Saleh Bay "may" serve as a pupping and early nursery area, and the hedge matters. A nursery usually means a place where young animals spend their early life. A pupping ground means a place where they are born. A few small sharks in one bay across a few weeks of one year cannot settle either.

Conservation International goes further in tone. It says the sightings offer the strongest evidence yet that the bay may be the world's first known pupping and nursery habitat for whale sharks. That sentence still contains "may", but note who is speaking. The organisation works on Indonesian marine protection and has an interest in the finding, which does not make it wrong and is a reason to attribute it.

Evidence that would move the question forward is easy enough to describe. Photographs of each small shark would separate one animal from several. Records across more years would show whether 2024 was a fluke. Tracking or repeat sightings of the same young animals would show whether they stay. As of November 2026 we know of none of that in print.

What do other scientists caution?

The disagreement was reported openly by the BBC in August 2026. A researcher quoted there says the newborn more likely came from elsewhere and chose Saleh Bay, while Konservasi Indonesia's scientist suspects the bay is a birthing ground and nursery. Those two views are not as far apart as they first sound. If a young shark arrives from elsewhere and stays, the bay could work as a nursery without being a birthplace. If it was only passing through, neither label fits.

The birthplace, then, remains open. Anyone stating flatly that whale sharks are born in Saleh Bay is going beyond what the people studying them are willing to say.

How did fishers make the find possible?

The sightings came from fishermen trained by researchers in identification and photo-documentation, who reported by WhatsApp. Training gives those crews a way to tell a very small whale shark from something else, and a phone gives them a way to report it.

The same paper records the catch and its release; it is not stated that training shaped the handling. A lift-net hauled up with a neonate in it could have ended badly. Instead the animal spent about six minutes in a seawater cooler box and was released, and the event reached the scientific record. Our page on the local story of pakek torok looks at how these sharks figure in the bay's fishing communities.

What does it change for protection?

It changes the argument more than the law. The species already has full protection under Indonesian law, so a neonate adds no new legal status. What it adds is a reason to care about specific parts of the bay and specific fishing gear. Antara, quoting the provincial spokesperson, reports that a 2026 governor's decree reserves an area covering feeding and nursery areas and movement routes. Our page on the Saleh Bay conservation area explains what that reservation does and does not yet do.

The word "nursery" in a report on an official decree should not be read as scientific confirmation. Managers often have to act before science is finished, and protecting a possible nursery is a reasonable precaution even if the claim later narrows.

Can visitors see baby whale sharks in Saleh Bay?

Plan on the answer being no. The records describe a handful of reports from fishing crews in the east of the bay, and one accidental catch. If a seller offers a tour that finds neonates, ask which records it relies on. The usual Saleh Bay whale shark morning, set out in our overview, involves much larger animals.

What else do people ask about baby whale sharks here?

Is Saleh Bay a whale shark nursery?

It may be. The authors of the 2024 records suggest a possible pupping and early nursery area, but this is not confirmed, and another researcher quoted by the BBC doubts the newborn was born there.

Have baby whale sharks been seen in Indonesia?

Yes. The paper on Saleh Bay says its 2024 records are the first neonatal whale sharks recorded in Indonesia: five reported sightings in August and one male caught and released in September.

Where are whale sharks born?

Nobody knows. Before this work no pupping or nursery ground had been identified anywhere in the world, and only one pregnant whale shark has been examined by science.

How rare are neonate whale sharks?

Very rare in the record. The same paper counts only 33 sightings worldwide of individuals under 1.5 metres before its own records, with the smallest free-swimming one at 59 centimetres.

How was the Saleh Bay pup found?

It was caught by accident in a bagan lift-net on 6 September 2024, held about six minutes in a seawater cooler box, then released. Researchers had trained local fishers to document and report such finds.

Which sources support this page?

• Diversity (MDPI): neonatal whale shark records in Saleh Bay
• BBC Future, August 2026
• IUCN shark specialist group factsheet: Saleh Bay Important Shark and Ray Area
• Conservation International news
• Marine ministry legal database: Decree 18/KEPMEN-KP/2013
• Antara: province reserves Saleh Bay as a conservation area

How do I reach the desk?

Researchers and fishers with records that add to or correct this page can write to bd@juaraholding.com or use WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563. The desk also takes ordinary trip questions, and our about page explains the commercial side of that. It cannot arrange or promise an encounter with a young shark.