Pacific Islands Responsible Whale Watching Pact
Twenty-five Countries Endorse Regional Marine Mammal Viewing Code
Aug 24, 2009
Thirty species of cetaceans (whales and dolphins), including some endangered populations, are found throughout the Pacific Islands region. As the ecotourism business in the southern Pacific steadily increases the number of whale watch trips going out each day has also increased.
In order to protect whales and dolphins without hurting the tourism industry, Pacific island governments working with NGOs, whale watch trip operators and scientists have created guidelines for responsible whale watching. These whale watching guidelines have now been endorsed by many of the Pacific Island nations.
Growth of Whale and Dolphin Watching in the South Pacific
Whale and dolphin watching increased by 45% in the years between 1998 and 2005, with the number of whale watchers growing from approximately 10,000 in 1998 to nearly 111,000 in 2005. This has resulted in a whale watch trip industry worth more than 21 million US dollars.
Given the importance of this ecotourism business to the area and the potential for harassment of the animals being observed, it was necessary to set up guidelines to prevent the whales and dolphins from being disturbed, particularly on feeding and breeding grounds.
Pacific Islands Whale and Dolphin Watching Agreement
The Regional Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching agreement was announced at the First International Conference for Marine Mammal Protected Areas. Twenty-five Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) member countries and territories have endorsed the guidelines, which were developed in cooperation with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), SPREP, and Operation Cetaces.
The Regional Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching utilize information that has been learned over the years from observing cetacean behavior around boats and people to provide whale watch trip operators with ways of giving tourists a good experience while ensuring the animals are not harmed in the process.
The guidelines allow for the whales and dolphins to initiate contact but prohibit whale watch boats from approaching animals too closely or preventing them from moving away. In this way the marine mammals are able to feed and mate without being disturbed despite boats being nearby.
Enforcement of Whale and Dolphin Viewing Guidelines
The endorsement of the whale and dolphin watching guidelines by so many Pacific Island nations and territories indicates a willingness to protect local natural resources. However, even in areas where laws have long been in place to protect marine mammals from harassment, unscrupulous tour operators are able to ignore the laws. Disturbance to feeding manatees in Florida is well documented and swim with dolphin trips have been shown to affect the health of local populations in some instances.
Whether it will be possible to enforce the Regional Guidelines for Whale and Dolphin Watching in the South Pacific remains to be seen.
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