Responsible whale watching

For a whale, a whale-watching boat is not a boat. It is an unfamiliar noise that arrives without warning, follows when you move, and does not leave when you dive. Whether that encounter is harmless or harmful depends almost entirely on choices made by people the whale will never see.

Intro

Whale watching is defined as tours by air, sea, or land to see cetaceans in their natural habitat, with a commercial aspect. Whale watching can be done through everything from small boats and kayaks to helicopters and airplanes. Responsible whale watching includes not only a non-disruptive method for cetaceans but also education. It can have many benefits, such as promoting interest in cetaceans and nature, but it can also bring sustainable economic growth for local communities. Back in 1955, the first commercial whale-watching operation was started by Chuck Chamberlain. He charged 1 dollar for viewing gray whales off the coast of San Diego. From there, it spread to Canada and Mexico, and in the 1980s it spread all the way to Europe and South America. In 2008, whale watching had spread to 119 countries and territories, with 13 million people involved and generating about 2.1 billion dollars. And it is growing. In Latin America, it grew 11.3% per year in the period 1998-2006. Many species of cetaceans are popular to watch, but some of the most frequently viewed are gray whales, humpback whales, right whales, sperm whales, killer whales, and common bottlenose dolphins.

The risk

Cetaceans are already under pressure from several human activities such as fishing and shipping. Whale tourism should not add to these. However, done incorrectly, it can contribute negatively. Ethical whale watching is therefore very important. Whale watching can be dangerous to cetaceans in many ways. Vessel strikes are one potential danger. Whale tourists want to get as close as possible to the whales, but getting too close presents a real danger to cetaceans.

Getting too close can also cause stress in cetaceans and disrupt their normal activities like foraging or sleeping. With humans around, they may also increase their respiratory rates, just as we breathe more quickly when nervous. Over time, this can cause a higher energy expenditure and force them to forage for longer durations.

Noise is also a potential factor. As mammals, whales respond to stress much like humans. They have very sensitive hearing. Imagine going about your daily life, perhaps working or cooking dinner. Now enter some loud machinery working in your backyard. This would be fine for short periods, but over time you would get agitated and stressed. This is not unlike the potential situations faced by cetaceans with overly aggressive whale watchers. Noise from boats can mask communication and foraging, impacting the lives of the whales negatively.

These risks are all significantly mitigated by responsible whale watching, and in the next section we will look at just that.

Being responsible

Responsible whale watching follows the core principles developed by the International Whaling Commission. The principles manage the possible impacts and allow cetaceans to choose the nature and duration of the interaction. In many parts of the world, regulations have been introduced. The regulations are different from country to country, but are created to minimize the disturbance to cetaceans. This is done by limiting the number of tour operators, vessels and the number of tours that can be run in specific areas. The tours can also be limited to specific times of day. There are also strict approach guidelines, vessel speed limits and minimum range rules to disturb as little as possible.

Another part of responsible whale watching is the educational aspect. The education of tourists can help make it a conservation gain for cetaceans rather than being only a disruption. Regulations in New Zealand require whale watching tours to not only limit the negative impacts of whale watching, but also strive to be a conservation benefit by including educational value in the tours. The hope is that it will raise the tourists’ environmental awareness and maybe have them engage in a more active role in conservation.

Wild vs. captivity

In many places in the world, it is still possible to see captive cetaceans. While it guarantees that you actually see them and get some good and close views, there are certainly downsides to it. Seeing animals in their natural habitat will always be a richer and more profound experience. Ethical considerations also must be weighed. Here we will take a look at a few factors worth considering.

Sources for this lesson →