The whale shark is the world's largest fish that forms predictable aggregations across its range, many of which support tourism industries. The largest non-captive provisioned whale shark destination globally is at Oslob, Philippines, where more than 500 000 tourists visit yearly. There, the sharks are provisioned daily, year-round, allowing the human–shark interaction in nearshore waters. We used in-water behavioural observations of whale sharks between 2015 and 2017 to understand the relationship between external stimuli and shark behaviour, whether frequency of visits at the site can act as a predictor of behaviour, and the tourist compliance to the code of conduct. Mixed effects models revealed that the number of previous visits at the site was a strong predictor of whale shark behaviour, and that provisioned sharks were less likely to exhibit avoidance. Compliance was poor, with 93% of surveys having people less than 2 m from the animal, highlighting overcrowding of whale sharks at Oslob. Given the behavioural implications to whale sharks highlighted here and the local community's reliance on the tourism industry, it is imperative to improve management strategies to increase tourist compliance and strive for sustainable tourism practices.

鲸鲨是世界上最大的鱼类，在其整个范围内形成可预测的聚集，其中许多为旅游业提供支持。全球最大的非圈养鲸鲨目的地是菲律宾的奥斯洛布，每年有超过50万名游客到访。在那里，全年无休地供应鲨鱼，使人鲨在近岸水域中相互作用。我们使用了2015年至2017年之间鲸鲨的水上行为观察，以了解外部刺激与鲨鱼行为之间的关系，现场探访的频率是否可以作为行为的预测指标以及游客对行为守则的遵守情况。混合效应模型显示，该站点以前的造访次数可以强烈预测鲸鲨的行为，而且，准备供应的鲨鱼不太可能躲避。依从性很差，有93％的调查显示人与动物之间的距离不到2 m，这突出了奥斯洛布（Oslob）鲸鲨的拥挤情况。考虑到此处强调的对鲸鲨的行为影响以及当地社区对旅游业的依赖，必须改善管理策略以提高游客依从性并努力实现可持续的旅游业实践。