The whale shark is the world's largest fish and one of only three filter feeding shark species, it was listed as vulnerable in 2001 under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC).

The goal of this plan was to imrpove the conservation status of the Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus by affording the same level of protection in Australian waters in the long term and increasing the levels of prortection in the Indian Ocean and South East Asian waters.