By Lewis and Will

Since May 2009, Brockhill Park Performing Arts College has linked up with Dhiguraha Island School in the Maldives in a project to save the whale shark.

Miss K Young from Brockhill Park led a visit to the island in order to see how the operation to save the whale sharks was progressing. Before the trip, A-level biology students raised funds both for the trip and for a very important microscope which has helped further research into understanding whale sharks.

The trip was also supported by British Airways. Two Year 12 students went along - unfortunately they did not encounter a whale shark but they hope to have a longer visit in April.

So far since the trip, the MWSRP team has been recording information in Ari Atoll and has come across 130 individuals, of which only five are female. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world; they are filter feeders and eat only plankton.