Issue 72 - May 2021

Whale Sharks in Video Games, Where to Swim with the Gentle Giants

By Joshua Clayton

a video game character swimming in the ocean — *Coral, fish and shipwrecks, what else do you need?*

A Bad Year for Tropical Travel

With travel bans still in effect across most of Asia and travel bubbles failing to emerge or facing continual delays even between countries with few cases of Covid-19, it looks like I won’t be booking any trips soon, and will have stick to looking at whale sharks in video games for now.

For me and many other people the Covid-19 pandemic threw a serious wrench into our travel plans. As an expat living overseas I saw not one, but two trips completely cancelled: A trip back home to see my family and a carefully planned but thankfully not booked three week trip across Indonesia.

The trip was going to include a revisit of Bali, an exploration of Java and the mountains and volcanoes, and, to top it all off, a visit to Nabire and Sorong to see the Whale Sharks of Cenderawasih Bay. Despite some positive travel news for Indonesia, it doesn’t look like that epic trip is going to be booked in 2021. And I still need to visit my family first.

a whale shark in a video game — stranded deep whale sharks underwater

Around the World the Virtual Way

With all that going on, I, like many others have turned to the virtual world. Given how beautifully games are rendered these days, combined with the interactive nature of the medium, it isn’t surprising that over this Covid period we jump on our consoles and PCs and wander around locations that we can’t physically visit. In reality, even before the pandemic gaming could inspire people to travel, as these lists of video games will show. Games like Assassin’s Creed Origins even had the ‘game’ part removed for those who just wanted to explore the world.

But as enjoyable as the games on those lists are, there was a lack of Indonesia, and well…whale sharks. So, since it appears I won’t be writing an article about actual whale sharks this year, here are the best places to swim with whale sharks virtually.

a swimming whale shark in the deep ocean video game — *A little small, these must be juvenile whale sharks*

a whale in a video game — *A little small, these must be juvenile whale sharks*

Stranded Deep – Check your vitals

Definitely more a survival game than whale-shark-swimming-simulator, Stranded Deep is a good contender for tropical island relaxation. I can stand in my hand-built over-water villa with a fresh coconut watching a beautifully rendered sunrise before jumping into crystal clear turquoise waters filled with an abundance of coral, fish, shipwrecks and sharks. If you’re playing specifically for a relaxing swim with whale sharks you’ll want to turn off the animal aggressiveness when you start a game, or the tiger and hammerhead sharks will absolutely ruin your day. There’s also a ton of other dangerous animals in the game that definitely make it more ‘game’ than tropical island simulator, but take your raft out to the deep waters and you might just come across the beautiful spotted patterns of a whale shark under the waves. Drop the miracle anchor and jump in to enjoy a peaceful swim with these animals.

Endless Ocean – Scuba Dive in Wii

For those who still own and use a Nintendo Wii (before it dies completely), Endless Ocean offers something of a Scuba Diving simulator for you. Unlike in Stranded Deep, nothing here is going to kill you, so take it at leisurely pace and just enjoy scanning and identifying the different animals that you find. The graphics haven’t aged quite so well, but the virtual whale shark is no less impressive to see.

While they did make a sequel that improved the game in many aspects, sharks also became aggressive and it was less a scuba diving simulator, so it doesn’t quite hit the same spot.

Get it on Amazon.

Abzu – Abstract Artistic Beauty Backed by a Powerful Parable

*Long-flooded ruins slowly reveal a poignant and topical history of ocean exploitation*

For a game I got for free that took all of 3 hours to finish, this blew me away and it is one of my favourite on the list. You might initially think the artistic style would fail to do the vibrant underwater world justice, but it has been beautifully created, and I’m not the only one to say that. Fish swim out of your way and shoal together, kelp fronds wave in the current and in the deep sea chapter hagfish congregate around whale skeletons. Did I say deep sea? Yes, Abzu takes you through every biome in the ocean, from coastal coral reefs to open oceans to the crushing blackness of the deep sea.

You can find meditation spots in each section which allow you to simply watch the animals go about their underwater lives. There are no combat or survival mechanics here so you can take plenty of time out from the very poignant main story to just enjoy the virtual ocean, especially when you encounter the life-size whale sharks.

*Even in a minimalist style, Whale Sharks are beautiful*

Beyond Blue – A Perfect Portrayal of the Marine World?

This game claims to be inspired by and produced in collaboration with the team from Blue Planet II, a documentary which has been described as the greatest nature series of all time. It also claims input from Marine Biologists in modelling the gorgeous scenery, animal animations and fish behaviour. There are no combat, fighting, or survival mechanics. The story is focused entirely around your role as a Marine Biologist and free diver who is tracking a pod of sperm whales so there is plenty of time to explore.

Like Abzu, Beyond Blue takes you across a variety of biomes and locations including beautifully modelled deep sea vents and bright, vibrant coral reefs. If you want to experience, learn about and enjoy an accurate portrayal of the ocean this is the game to play. I’m not sure it is enough to save the ocean as some claim, but anything that instils the sense of wonder about the ocean that I feel in the real world is worth playing. If a picture speaks a thousand words then this video will explain what I mean.

While most sharks in video games are there as an aggressive enemy to halt your progress, these games allow you the chance to enjoy the beauty of the underwater world just for the sake of it. In the face of seemingly endless lockdowns and shifting reopening dates, enjoying your virtual time with these gentle giants may be enough to give you the marine ‘fix’ you need to get through to the day we can all travel safely again. Certainly, the reminder that whale sharks are waiting for me at the end of the pandemic has helped.

Joshua Clayton loves to travel, firmly believing that sustainable, ethically operated tourism can support a healthy environment and create sustainable livelihoods. Working and living in South East Asia, he sees both the best and worst of what international tourism can do. He loves to write, both professionally and creatively. To visit my webpage, please CHECK HERE!

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Issue 72 - May 2021

SEVENSEAS Travel Magazine – May 2021 – Issue 72

Banner: A bald eagle flying in a snowstorm. Squamish River, British Columbia, Canada by Pete Nuij

Cover issue for May 2021 — Cover: Wood Bison Portrait. British Columbia, Canada by Pete Nuij

Homalco Wildlife & Cultural Tours, British Columbia

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Pacific Whale Foundation & University of Hawaii Announce Scientific Paper Documenting Rapid Weight-Loss in Pygmy Killer Whales

Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF), a nonprofit organization working to protect the ocean and its inhabitants for more than 40 years, led a groundbreaking study employing advanced drone technology that offers new hope in the remote study of marine wildlife in partnership with the University of Hawai‘i’s Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) and the University of Hawai‘i’s Health and Stranding Lab. Read more…

Angelo Concilio: Rider on The Storm

As I child, I was terrified of storms. Especially those that occurred in the summer, when a strong contrast between hot and cold air made them particularly violent. I remember one occasion in August when I had just turned six years old. Read more…

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Photos Capture Spectacular Ice Eruptions in Siberia

Rounds of ice and river water eruptions were recorded on camera in parts of south-central Russia last week. But what looks like a dazzling water fountain show is actually a strategic operation to prevent major flooding in nearby towns. The ice blasting event along the Biya River in southern Siberia was carried out by officials as a preemptive strike to prevent severe flooding as temperatures begin to rise across the region. Read more…

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Houston Flooding Polluted Reefs More Than 100 Miles Offshore

Runoff from Houston’s 2016 Tax Day flood and 2017’s Hurricane Harvey flood carried human waste onto coral reefs more than 100 miles offshore in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, according to a Rice University study. Read more…

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Gone by Michael Blencowe: A Search for What Remains of The World’s Extinct Creatures

Dynamic naturalist Michael Blencowe has travelled the globe to uncover the fascinating backstories of eleven extinct animals, which he shares with charm and insight in Gone. See more…

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Sustainable Home: Practical Projects, Tips and Advice for Maintaining a More Eco-friendly Household

Sustainable Home is a stylish, inspirational and practical guidebook to maintaining a more environmentally friendly household. Read more…

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Feature Destination: British Columbia

It is good to see you. Homalco Wildlife & Cultural Tours invites you to visit, explore and learn about the traditional territory of the Homalco First Nation. Bute Inlet offers spectacular wilderness and some of North America’s most sought-after wildlife, including grizzly bears, salmon, eagles and whales. Read more…

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Marine Stewardship Council Funds Ocean Projects to Drive Progress in Sustainable Fishing

RS14537_People_working_in_the_tuna_industry_c_Millstream_Productions

Twenty fisheries and research projects around the world will receive up to £60,000 each from the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Ocean Stewardship Fund – a fund dedicated to enabling and supporting sustainable fishing around the world. Read more…

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Walls of Death: Fisheries Threaten Livelihoods in the Indian Ocean, Report Reveals

Fishing pressure on the Indian Ocean high seas is threatening ocean health, coastal livelihoods and iconic species, with governments failing to act, a new Greenpeace International report shows. The new investigation in the northwestern Indian Ocean reveals. Read more…

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A Beach Wrapped in Plastic Teaches Important Lessons

Pom Pom Island is a remote uninhabited island in the Celebes Sea off the coast of Malaysian Borneo. Every day marine litter filled with plastics smothers the shoreline. This story investigates a breakdown of what is washing up and where in the world it may be coming from. Read more…

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First Comprehensive study of NW Australia’s Deep Corals Completed

Scientists discovered a sea snake thought to be locally extinct and saw several species such as the great spotted cowrie (Perissersoa guttata) for the first time in the Ashmore Reef Marine Park, off Australia, during Schmidt Ocean Institute’s 18-day expedition that concluded this week. Read more…

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Tozeuma Shrimp – Jack’s April Underwater Photograph

If you look at this odd-looking shrimp, you’ll see why it is sometimes also called a Pinocchio and a rhino shrimp. Its long body and long nose, make it look quite different from most other shrimp. Obviously, camouflage is a big factor here, and they are perfectly suited to blend in with a large variety of corals. Read more…

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Two months until World Ocean Day!

With less than 2 months until 8 June, many of you have already started planning your event, activity, or celebration for World Ocean Day. Read more…

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SAWFISH NEWS: Havenworth Coastal Conservation Anglers and Divers Asked to Help with Sawfish Research

One of the best ways to track the effectiveness of ongoing management and conservation efforts is to collect information about interactions with endangered sawfish by fishers, divers, and others. Read more…

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The Many Faces of Marine Conservation – From a Remote Colombian Island to a Roman Boardroom in 3 Days

It was twilight in the early morning when I emerged from the jungle and stepped onto the black gravel beach. The sun was rising somewhere to the east over the mainland, but the low clouds obscured it and the sky was a deep blue on all sides. I walked to the water’s edge where the sound of the waves jostling the pebbles began to mix with the falling of fat raindrops that had already soaked my shirt. Read more…

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Whale Sharks in Video Games, Where to Swim with the Gentle Giants

With travel bans still in effect across most of Asia and travel bubbles failing to emerge or facing continual delays even between countries with few cases of Covid-19, it looks like I won’t be booking any trips soon, and will have to stick to looking at whale sharks in video games for now. Read more…

South Australia Reels in World Fisheries Congress

The 2021 World Fisheries Congress to be held in South Australia will bring together the brightest minds in commercial fishing, with a focus on conservation and sustainability. The 8th World Fisheries Congress, scheduled for September this year, will be held in Adelaide, South Australia. Read more…

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Planning for Sea Level Rise: Begin with The End in Mind

When it comes to sea-level rise (SLR), there are two reasons we should start thinking bigger, sooner. The first is practical. Planning farther ahead and raising streets and structures 3 feet one time is generally less disruptive and less expensive than raising them 1 foot three times. Read more…

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UNDP Ocean Innovation Challenge 2nd Call for Proposals on Sustainable Fisheries

Fish represent one of the most important sources of food protein to humanity, supplying 17 percent of total animal protein consumed globally. Since 1967, global per capita fish consumption has more than doubled to 20 kg/yr/person. Nearly 40 million people obtain their jobs and livelihoods from industrial or small-scale fishing. Some 38 percent of fish caught or farmed worldwide are traded internationally. See more…

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The FREE Weekly Conservation Post and Jobs List

Signing up for the free Weekly Newsletter & Jobs List will get you a round-up of upcoming events, webinars, meetings, reports, funding opportunities, photos of the week, and recent postings to the jobs list.

To sign up for our free subscription, please Click Here or email us Here.

Since 2004, SEVENSEAS Media has fostered an informal and non-partisan platform to promote understanding of key issues and challenges while building partnerships across an increasingly diverse group of marine conservation professionals and students.

Our mission is to promote communication and build partnerships across the global marine community and to identify and address gaps in the community’s work. SEVENSEAS Media achieves this through multimedia promotion and partnerships. The community consists of a diverse and growing group of participants, including non-governmental organizations, government agencies, foundations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, fellowship programs, independent consultants, and academia/students.

If you are interested in contributing or getting involved, email us Here.

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Feature Destination

Homalco Wildlife & Cultural Tours, British Columbia

a welcome sign inferno of a national park

The tourism business began serendipitously with the long-term efforts at Algard Creek, situated within their traditional territory, where members of the Nation proactively sought to establish a hatchery to restore the wild salmon population. The hatchery enabled the community to harvest food stocks, rear eggs and release fry to slowly re-establish the once plentiful wild salmon runs (Coho and Chum), depleted by years of exploitation and industrial activity by outsiders (largely through clear cut logging, leading to landslides that transported debris and sediment into critical spawning areas). are a world-class wildlife viewing and cultural experience tour provider owned and operated by the Xwémalhkwu, or Homalco First Nation, a people known as ‘the people of the fast-running waters’. The Homalco traditional territories run from Dent Island, just north of Sonora Island, over to Raza Passage and extending over the entire Bute Inlet. Bute Inlet is a spectacular fiord wilderness area running 80 km between peaks reaching up to 2,700 metres east of the northern end of Vancouver Island on the western coast of Canada. The Xwémalhkwu people lived for thousands of years at village sites spread throughout, near rivers along the fiord and at the mouth of Bute Inlet. Today Bute Inlet is a paradise for photographers, sports fishermen, hikers, kayakers, mountain climbers, wildlife enthusiasts, and experienced backcountry users.

As with most coastal First Nation peoples, the Homalco thrived on rich natural harvests from the ocean. As they travelled with the seasons foraging, hunting and fishing, the Homalco people shared in sustainable resource use throughout the territory, and above all were taught to respect the sacred cedar tree. The fibres of the cedar provided the Homalco people with clothing, shelter, baskets, canoes and hand tools as well as burial boxes.

With the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples in the mid 1800’s the Xwémalhkwu were banned from practicing their traditional ceremonies, dances and songs and were forced to burn their regalia. During the early years of colonialization the elders kept the language alive secretly. They were moved from their traditional community locations in the late 1800’s. And then in the early 1900’s generations of children were taken away to Residential Schools. The Xwémalhkwu resisted and, despite the impacts of these schools, they maintained their connection to their cultural heritage.

The increased fish population had an unexpected but fortuitous spin off in leading to a return of the grizzly bear population to the valley (with as many as 50 grizzly bears returning to the Orford River to feast on salmon). The bears’ return led to the idea to invite visitors in to enjoy the wildlife that was now thriving there, and in turn led to the creation of Homalco Wildlife Tours. The community initially created the tour company to offer safe wildlife viewing for paying guests from Sonora Resort, a nearby commercial luxury resort.

Very early on the Nation successfully developed relationships with local existing tour operators to bring visitors to Orford Bay from Campbell River, a city on Vancouver Island touted as the ‘Salmon Capital of the World’. A business model was created with Campbell River operators, providing them with guaranteed times to arrive and view wildlife including the grizzlies in the Orford Valley, in the Homalco territory. This model capitalized on the tour operators’ existing marketing and sales channels and their infrastructure including professional tour boats. The Homalco business focused on providing an outstanding wildlife experience for guests of the tour operators.

As the market demand for the fall seasonal wildlife viewing program grew, management of the Homalco business realized there was potential to expand into the shoulder seasons with a diversified experience offering. The trained youth wildlife guides provided the solution as to how to diversify – to begin offering cultural programs. The guides were then provided with professional training to begin offering cultural tours, showcasing the Nations history, language, songs, stories and dances. The cultural tour programs proved successful and the seasonality was expanded through the spring and summer months. The fall wildlife programs were also expanded to include a cultural element as well. The benefits of this went far beyond economics as community members, typically spread across Vancouver Island and other parts of BC, began to see a reason to come home, learn the language and traditions and reconnect/travel within their traditional territory, and in doing so create a livelihood guiding visitors.

The cultural tourism program helped reduce the dependence of the business on the seasonal wildlife viewing. In addition it increased the operating season length from 74 days in 2014 to over 150 days in 2019, leading to a more profitable business.

A total of four partnerships were created with tour operators in Campbell River and one partnership with a luxury lodge. The partnerships supply the Homalco Wildlife Tour business with guests for their fall bear viewing program. In 2019 the business also began to market and bring it’s own guests into Orford, along with the partners.

Homalco Wildlife Tours has enabled many community members to access their traditional village sites, which they have not had access to since being relocated in the 70’s. It has also led to a revitalization of the community’s cultural traditions and practices – the Homalco language, songs, dances, and stories, which are now being shared with visitors from around the world. Most importantly the business has helped to re-connect Homalco youth to their culture by training them as tour guides. The business has created four permanent full time positions, eight full-time seasonal positions, and supported 20 positions for the expansion and development of the tours.

A small conservation fee is added to the tour price for every guest on Homalco tours, as well as for all guests on partner tours that visit the Orford Valley. These fees help to support the wild salmon enhancement program at the hatchery.

Note: The story is developed by Mike Robbins for LT&C. To see the original story, please CLICK HERE…

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Feature Destination

Feature Destination: British Columbia

ʔiymot kʷunome – It is good to see you. Homalco Wildlife & Cultural Tours invites you to visit, explore and learn on the traditional territory of the Homalco First Nation. Bute Inlet offers spectacular wilderness and some of North America’s most sought-after wildlife, including grizzly bears, salmon, eagles and whales.

Enjoy an unforgettable experience with orcas, humpbacks, sea lions and more remarkable marine mammals in their natural habitat as we venture through the Salish Sea. Bear witness to BC’s magnificent coastal mountain range and watch for bald eagles, other marine birds and wildlife on this notable expedition.

Join this exclusive group for a day of whales, cultural discovery and wildlife. Travel to Bute Inlet and through the Salish Sea, while searching for humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, bald eagles and other marine wildlife. Accompany a First Nation guide on an interpretive journey to learn about traditional uses of the land while watching for grizzly bears and more.

COVID-19 UPDATE: We are booking now for 2021 tours with full COVID safety procedures in place. Whales, Wildlife and Culture, Great Bears of Bute, and People Water Land tours are fully refundable up to 48 hours before travelling with us. Thank you and stay safe.