Fig 1. Relationships between encounters and the number of years an individual whale shark was observed for a) mean encounters per year per whale shark, b) mean day of first encounter per whale shark and c) mean days between encounters (DBE) per whale shark and d) mean residency time per whale shark.

Standard errors (SE) calculated from individual sharks. 1a) Mean encounters = 0.77years + 0.77, R² = 0.92, p = 0.009; 1b) Mean day of first encounter = -2.4years + 136.3, R² = 0.91, p = 0.012; 1c) Mean days between encounters = 75.38years + 418.24, R² = 0.95, p = 0.012; 1d) Mean residency time = 5.82years + 0.56, R² = 0.94, p = 0.006.