Whale Watching

The small resident population of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Dolphin Bay, Bocas del Toro, is the target of the largest dolphin-watching industry in Panama. Previous work has shown that intense dolphin-watching activity is negatively affecting this dolphin population. Thus, understanding tourist's preferences and views on dolphin watching may help to develop marketing and management strategies that can reduce the impact of this activity on the resident dolphin population. To generate this information, we interviewed a total of 129 tourists who were primarily first-time visitors to Bocas del Toro. Of these, 45% had been on a dolphin-watching trip locally, and a further 11% were planning to take a trip. Overall, tourists participating in these tours expressed low levels of satisfaction with local dolphin-watching practices due to the high density of boats present and their mode of approach to the animals. The majority of tourists stated that they would prefer a dolphin-watching trip on which the operator used good dolphin-watching practices, had licensed staff, and provided ecological information about the dolphins. These results indicate an urgent need to restructure the tourism industry in Bocas del Toro towards trips that are aligned with tourist interests and local conservation efforts. Such changes could significantly reduce the impact that unnecessarily high intensity dolphin watching is having on this small population of bottlenose dolphins. Simultaneously , this would increase tourist satisfaction and contribute to marine mammal conservation.

Trujillo, F. & I.C. Avila. 2013. Uso no letal de cetáceos: el turismo de observación de delfines y ballenas como estrategia de conservación en Colombia. Págs: 232- 251. En: Trujillo, F., A. Gärtner, D. Caicedo y M. C. Diazgranados (Eds.). Diagnóstico del estado de conocimiento y conservación de los mamíferos acuáticos en Colombia. Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible, Fundación Omacha, Conservación Internacional y WWF. Bogotá, 282 p. ISBN: 978-958-8554-24-2.

Using non-lethal cetacean: the tourism of whale and dolphin watching as a conservation strategy in Colombia

With ever changing business world, achieving higher level of work performance through managing employee’s work-life balance is still challenging and remains as an issue in literature as well as practically in organizations. Unlike in most of other industries, the situation of the hospitality industry is more critical and the work life balance issue has become an inherent characteristic of the industry. According to Deery (as cited in Monathy, 2014), work-life balance is heavily impact on employee’s performance and since the work-life balance issue is an inherent characteristic of hotel industry, their work performances are mostly at lower levels. Therefore, the study focuses on the work-life balance of the hotel industry employees and its impact on employee performance. The study is based on three main dimension of the work life balance i.e.  Job Content, Personal Factors and Family factors. The study was carried out at the John keels (Cinnamon) Hotel chain in Sri Lanka using 187 executive level employees. Data were collected through a standard and validated questionnaire survey and face to face discussions with family members of the selected employees. Data which collected through questionnaire survey were analyzed by using multiple linear regressions and content analysis was employed to summarize the data which collected through discussion. The result revealed that there is high positive relationship between all three dimensions and employee performance.  The factors related job content, personal and family are positively contributed for the employee performance. The hotel industry can further improve the employee performance through creating a conductive work environment which allows the employee to have a work-life balance. Confirming the previous findings the current study reveals that the work-life balance positive impacts on work performance. This study will contribute to hotel industry to improve the work- life balance of the employees in order to improve the employee work performance.

Within little more than a generation, whale-watching has been subject to global industrial development. It has been portrayed by destinations and business operators, and advocated by environmental groups, as a sustainable activity and an alternative to whaling. However, in recent years the sustainability of these activities has increasingly been questioned, as research shows that repeated disturbance by boat
traffic can severely disrupt critical behaviours of cetaceans in the wild.
Bringing together contributions by international experts, this volume addresses complex issues associated with commercial whale-watching, sustainable development and conservation of the global marine environment. It highlights widely expressed concerns for the failure of policy, planning and management, and pinpoints both long-standing and emerging barriers to sustainable practice. Featuring numerous case studies, the book provides critical insights into the diverse socio-cultural, political, economic and ecological contexts of this global industry, highlighting the challenges and opportunities that arise along the pathways to sustainability.

Arias-Gaviria, D.,  Muñoz-Vargas, C.A. & I.C. Avila. 2011. Tourist Guide of Whalewatching in Colombia. Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Vice Ministry of Tourism, Directorate of Quality and Sustainable Development of Tourism of Colombia. Bogotá, Colombia. 61p. (Español & English).
Available online http://www.guiadeballenas.com/english/
Disponible en linea http://www.guiadeballenas.com/

Whale-watching research encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and fields of study, including
monitoring the biological impacts of whale-watching activities on cetaceans and assessments of the
effectiveness of whale-watching management and regulations, to the sociological and economic
aspects of whale watching on communities hosting such activities. This article is the latest in a series
of annual digests, which describes the variety and findings of whale-watching studies published over
the past year, since June 2014.

Whale-watching research encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and fields of study, from monitoring the biological impacts of whale-watching activities on cetaceans and assessments of the effectiveness
of whale-watching management and regulations, to the sociological and economic aspects of whale watching. This article is the latest in a series of annual digests, which describes the variety and findings of whale-watching studies published June 2015 to May 2016.

Whale-watching is one of the fastest growing tourism industries worldwide, often viewed as a sustainable, non-consumptive strategy for the benefits of cetacean conservation and the coastal communities, alternative to and incompatible with whaling. Yet, there is paucity of research on how things actually work out at the community-level. Drawing on the research literature and my own ethnographic fieldwork, this article bridges a knowledge gap in this field while examining an Azorean context where tourism has brought a re-commodification of the whale for the community (observing wildlife as opposed to harpooning it) in the last 20 years. The analysis is focused on four main community-level implications: governance of common maritime resources, and tourism's contribution to economic sustainability, cultural identity and social relations. It is shown that whale-watching, as any other form of community-based ecotourism, is not a panacea that always promotes biodiversity conservation and economic and sociocultural sustainability for the host communities. Moreover, expanding on the theorisation of emerging institutional fields by Lawrence and Phillips, the political, historical, economic and sociocultural context of the community involved is a key factor for understanding local agency and the local specific features of new fields.

El libro expone y discute datos sobre distribución, uso del hábitat, grupos sociales, abundancia relativa y fotoidentificación de las ballenas jorobadas en la Bahía de Samaná, obtenidos entre enero y marzo de los años 2004, 2005 y 2006. Se presenta el modelo batimétrico digital del área de observación de ballenas de la Bahía de Samaná y una caracterización de las variables oceanográficas durante los meses de la temporada reproductiva.

Negombo is a popular tourist destination and has attracted millions of tourists over the last few decades. However, the unplanned tourism developments and constructions are become a major impediment for its sustainability and also deteriorate the tourists’ satisfaction. Therefore, the objective of this is to identify the relationship between unplanned tourism development and tourists’ satisfaction. Through an analysis of a quantitative data, which gathered from a questionnaire survey using 378 tourists at Negombo beach and two interviews with authorized persons in Negombo has used for gather qualitative data. Hence the study has used the mixed methodology. The study considered the tourist satisfaction is depend on the factors related to the tourism planning and development such as natural and manmade attractions, infrastructure and superstructure, social and cultural setting, environmental management and government and industry intervention on tourism planning through developing rules, regulations and policies etc. were those identified factors. The result shows that, except the social cultural setting, all other factors are positively influenced the tourists’ satisfaction. The tourists are dissatisfied about some social cultural factors; especially the behavior of beach boys and the hawkers. Even though the tourists are dissatisfied with the socio-cultural setting of the area, the study concludes that the majority of the tourists are satisfied with the present tourism development in the study area. However, the government and industry should intervene to take necessary actions to improve the social cultural setting of the Negombo area to ensure the sustainable tourism development.

Whale-watching tourism is widely regarded as a manifestation of the transition from whale hunting to whale protection. However, in Jangsaengpo, South Korea, watching whales and eating whale-meat occur side by side for tourism purposes. Here, the concurrence of the two seemingly conflicting practices is legitimated through the by-catch which enables eating without killing by using 'accidentally' caught whales for meat. Bringing together ontological discussions of multinaturalism and the topological analysis of space, this paper examines the ways in which spatial relations are performed to produce multiple whale ontologies within Jangsaengpo's whale tourism. It specifically unfolds diverse geographical connections (from Japan to the US), and their interactions, which enact whales in Jangsaengpo as a multiplicity – what I call 'the whale multiple'. This paper first traces Jangsaengpo's historical and contemporary whale-related geographical connections through which an array of actors and entities are enrolled into, and transformed, within the assemblage of whale tourism. It then considers the spatial politics exercised through the by-catch, which configures a concurrence of conflicting whale ontologies. The paper discusses the political implications of the whale multiple which suggests strategic living with different ontological worlds as a way of moving beyond the killing–protecting antagonism. By illustrating the spatial production and configuration of ontological multiplicity, this paper engages with the spatial dimension of the multinatural theorisation of nature.

Uramba Bahía Málaga Natural National Park is one of the most
important places visited by tourists to see humpback whales
(Megaptera novaeangliae) in Colombia. Humpback whales arrive
from Southern Chile and the Antarctic Peninsula every year
between May and December to reproduce, give birth and rear
calves. To evaluate the current state of whale watching in Málaga
we analyzed tourist visitation data from 2011 to 2019 during the
peak whale-watching season (July–October), and during one
week in October 2020. We found that whale-watching activity
has increased considerably. In 2019, 21,186 tourists realized
whale watching in Málaga. Whale watchers per month increased
by 108% and monthly whale-watching boat trips increased by
140%, in the last decade. Currently there are in average 19
boat trips per day (±18.0), and most boats are small (≤15 m).
Tourists came mainly from Colombia (90%). August was the most
important month for whale watching. Although environmental
education activities are undertaken, currently responsible whalewatching guidelines are overlooked. At present, whale-watching
activity produces important economic benefits for local people
and neighboring sites, with a monthly expenditure of at least
$362,409 USD, but to ensure the sustainable continuity of this
activity, negative impacts on whales need to be minimized. We classified management challenges into social, economic and biological aspects. From a social perspective, operators should form a whale-watching community association; this would improve cooperation amongst operators, promote good practices in whale-watching and reduce pressure on whales. Economic recommendations include 1) whale-watching trips handled mainly by local people; 2) ticket prices unification; and 3) investment in tourist facilities. Biological recommendations focus on the welfare of whales and include: 1) follow the current whalewatching recommendations strictly; 2) reduce transit speeds to below 10 knots in the area during whale season; 3) use propeller guards; 4) promote land-based whale watching; 5) implement acoustic whale tourism; 6) reinforce environmental education programs; and 7) support long-term monitoring and scientific research. Based on these three aspects, we urge environmental and ethnic authorities, conferring with relevant stakeholders, to determine the whale-watching carrying capacity of the area and to promote a responsible tourism. Authorities need to strengthen the monitoring, oversight and control of this growing tourist activity in order to ensure its long-term persistence.

Uramba Bahía Málaga Natural National Park is one of the most important places visited by tourists to see humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Colombia. Humpback whales arrive from Southern Chile and the Antarctic Peninsula every year between May and December to reproduce, give birth and rear calves. To evaluate the current state of whale-watching in Málaga we analyzed tourist visitation data from 2011 to 2019 during the peak whale-watching season (July–October), and during one week in October 2020. We found that whale-watching activity has increased considerably. In 2019, 21,186 tourists realized whale watching in Málaga. Whale watchers per month increased by 108% and monthly whale-watching boat trips increased by 140%, in the last decade. Currently there are in average 19 boat trips per day (±18.0), and most boats are small (≤15 m). Tourists came mainly from Colombia (90%). August was the most important month for whale watching. Although environmental education activities ar...

Ecotourism is a powerful, but highly contentious, form of contemporary economic development (Wheeler, 1994; Cater, 2006). It expresses a strong desire amongst alienated middle classes in post-industrial societies to get back in touch with nature (Fletcher 2014). It also reflects an attempt to overcome individual anxiety relating to irreversible environmental degradation and biodiversity loss caused by capitalism (Zizek 2009) through the conflation of eco-consumption with biodiversity conservation (Duffy et al. 2008; Neves 2010a). Within this context wildlife tourism, it may be argued, represents one of a range of new strategies of capital accumulation and expansion (Fletcher and Neves 2012; Neves and Igoe 2012). This chapter addresses the capacity of ecotourism to employ capitalist mechanisms to address some of the more acute problems of capitalism itself. It addresses ecotourism in terms of a range of capitalist ‘fixes’ including: economic stagnation due to over-accumulation (time/space fix); limitations on capital accumulation resulting from ecological degradation (environmental fix); growing inequality and social unrest (social fix); and a widespread sense of alienation between humans and nonhuman natures (psychological fix). We consider the widespread advocacy of ecotourism as a panacea for the diverse social and environmental problems of capitalism in terms of endorsement of its potential as a manifold capitalist fix. In doing so, we find that rather than coming to fruition as solutions to the shortcomings of capitalist processes, these promised fixes tend to reproduce and exacerbate existing socio-ecological problems (e.g. Neves and Igoe 2012; see also Silva 2013).

With the continuing growth of the tourism industry over recent decades, has come a change in tourist behaviour from the traditional stereotypical 3-S tourist (sun, sand, sex) to an increasingly sophisticated and demanding tourist. These ‘new’ tourists like to learn about history, nature, and wildlife, and they expect an educational component on wildlife tours. This study investigated swim-with-dolphin tours in Kaikoura, New Zealand with regard to the educational content and the overall anatomy of these tours, using data from observations on a total of 32 tours during December 2011. The resulting data were then compared with the data from Hrycik and Forestell’s (2013) study, which investigated the content of questions asked by passengers on whale-watching tours in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Results of the on-tour observations indicate that the surveyed tours display a structured approach to interpretation, which is customised to the specific tour anatomy of a ‘swim-with’ tour, and varies in some parts significantly from ‘watch-only’ tour interpretation.

The presence of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Brazilian coast and the project dedicated towards this species are continuous focus of the attention of researchers and other conservationist groups because of its symbolic significance. Due to this reason, the anthropic and natural threats to which the whales are exposed to must be studied and planned within the research scope.

By a brief field immersion and content analysis of texts, videos, speeches and charts about the health and tecnocientific practices about the species, I try to address the importance of these outputs and how the connections between researchers and their more-than-human object in question can generate affection between them. There’s an effort to explain which forms of thinking practices of overcoming threats and existing together are used by the professionals and the more-than-human mentioned here.

Whale-watching research encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and fields of study, including monitoring the biological impacts of whale-watching activities on cetaceans and assessments of the effectiveness of whale-watching management and regulations, to the sociological and economic aspects of whale watching on communities hosting such activities. This article is the latest in a series of annual digests, which describes the variety and findings of whale-watching studies published between June 2013 and May 2014.

The present work uses daily checklist data from whale-watching to study basic aspects of cetacean ecology. Data in the Azores consists of a simple daily list of all species sighted by boats, with no additional information. The Azorean whale-watching activity is described and sources of variation related to data collection are debated. A data-set from one whale-watching company is analysed from 2001 to 2006, from April to October (tourism season). The first four years were used to describe frequencies in the area, and maximum and minimum regional sea surface temperatures for nineteen cetacean species, based on remote sensed data. Several species were present throughout the season, while for others, results indicate transient habits in the study area (Balaenopterids, Globicephala sp., Pseudorca crassidens, Orcinus orca and Hyperodoon ampullatus). Reservations were made relative to small size and evasive species. Sighting frequencies on temperature classes in 2005 and 2006 were used successfully in an experimental approach to study delphinid simpatry. The simplicity of data was overcome by the diversity of sighted species and the dimension of the time scale. Daily checklist is a low cost useful source of information mainly for large cetaceans that should keep being registered.

Whale-watching is one of the fastest-growing sectors of wildlife tourism in the world. The waters off Sri Lanka have been identified as important habitats for Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus); a species listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Coastal destinations of Mirissa in the south-west, Trincomalee in the north-east and Kalpitiya on the west coast have emerged as popular places for whale watching, especially among foreigners. However, unregulated boat-based tourism and related visitor disturbance on cetacean populations inhabiting these waters has now become a serious concern. Social media at present is playing an important role as major information sources for travelers. Amidst the social-media websites that contain travel-related content, TripAdvisor is considered to be the most popular as it provides a social interaction platform for travelers to share their experiences about a visit to a certain destination. These reviews serve as reliable and unbiased information for contemporary travel researchers. As such, this study attempted to explore the positive and negative attributes of the whale watching industry in Mirissa, Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Content-analysis of a total of 131 reviews posted in TripAdvisor during the period from 01st January 2015 to 31st December 2016 found five positive attributes and four negative attributes associated with the whale watching industry in Mirissa. Probability of encountering good numbers of whales, quality of the services offered by boat operators, crew performance, tour organization, and the efforts taken by relevant stakeholders to conserve whales were the positive attributes revealed by the analysis. The negative attributes associated with whale-watching industry included the discrepancies in prices, duration of the tour, distance maintained during whale watching (boats getting too close to whales), and number of passengers per vessel (overcrowding). Visitors were moderately concerned on the size and quality of the vessels. It was revealed that 10 out of 11 attributes highlighted by the visitors are tour-operator related aspects, and this calls for an overall improvement of the tour operator standards in the whale-watching industry. Impetus for sustainable marine reserve management to assure better visitor experiences are further discussed.

This study investigated the effects of whale-watching vessels (WWV) on solitary sperm whales off
Andenes in northern Norway. The presence of WWV did not have a significant effect on the duration
of the surface and foraging dive periods or on the respiration pattern and dynamics. However,
the presence of WWV made sperm whales almost seven times more likely to perform a near-surface
event (NSE). NSEs are submersions without fluking for short periods of time that take place during
the surface phase. The occurrence of NSEs led to a significant increase of 75% in surface time, which
is 6 min more at the surface that were not compensated with longer foraging dives. Additionally, the
occurrence of NSEs was associated with changes in the animals’ respiration pattern and dynamics.
Data collection concerning NSEs and respiration dynamics (both parameters assessed here for the
first time) is strongly recommended in future impact studies on this species. NSEs may be indicators
of disturbance and are reasonably easy to identify, and thus identifying and better understanding the
causes of this behavior have management implications.

Limited resources and increasing environmental concerns have prompted calls to identify the critical questions that most need to be answered to advance conservation, thereby providing an agenda for scientific research priorities. Cetaceans are often keystone indicator species but also high profile, charismatic flagship taxa that capture public and media attention as well as political interest. A dedicated workshop was held at the conference of the Society for Marine Mammalogy (December 2013, New Zealand) to identify where lack of data was hindering cetacean conservation and which questions need to be addressed most urgently. This paper summarizes 15 themes and component questions prioritized during the workshop. We hope this list will encourage cetacean conservation-orientated research and help agencies and policy makers to prioritize funding and future activities. This will ultimately remove some of the current obstacles to science-based cetacean conservation.

Mexico is one of the top 10 whale-watching destinations in the world. The target species for "whale watching" (WW) are the gray whale, blue whale, humpback whale, and fin whale; the target species for "swim with dolphins" (SWD) are the bottlenose dolphin, spotted dolphin, spinner dolphin, and killer whale. WW has an increment of 666% income, 94% of trips, and 51% in the jobs generated in the last 11 years. Although Mexican legislation to regulate WW appears to be well designed, the great challenge is applying this normative in the field. In particular, it has been observed that surveillance and enforcement of normative differ significantly whether WW has carried out within a Marine Protected Area (MPA) or area without such designation. WW of gray and blue whales in El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve and Bahía de Loreto National Park, respectively, is developed within the MPAs. They are considered examples of acceptable WW practices. In contrast, in places without protected status as Puerto Vallarta, Jal., and Los Cabos, Baja California Sur (BCS), the WW practices have different problems related to boats' presence without permission as sport fishing boats, private boats, and jet skis that do not respect WW guidelines. On the other hand, creating normativity or policies to regulate SWD in Mexico represents a current challenge. It is also a challenge to promote that local communities are involved in carrying out WW and SWD and are included in granting permits and the jobs and benefits of the economic spillover that these tourist activities generate.

Limited resources and increasing environmental concerns have prompted calls to identify the critical questions that most need to be answered to advance conservation, thereby providing an agenda for scientific research priorities. Cetaceans are often keystone indicator species but also high profile, charismatic flagship taxa that capture public and media attention as well as political interest. A dedicated workshop was held at the conference of the Society for Marine Mammalogy (December 2013, New Zealand) to identify where lack of data was hindering cetacean conservation and which questions need to be addressed most urgently. This paper summarizes 15 themes and component questions prioritized during the workshop. We hope this list will encourage cetacean conservation-orientated research and help agencies and policy makers to prioritize funding and future activities. This will ultimately remove some of the current obstacles to science-based cetacean conservation.

Whale-watching research encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and fields of study, including monitoring the biological impacts of whale-watching activities on cetaceans and assessments of the effectiveness of whale-watching management and regulations, to the sociological and economic aspects of whale watching on communities hosting such activities. This article is the latest in a series of annual digests, which describes the variety and findings of whale-watching studies published over the past year, since June 2012.