The Potential of Whale Watching in the Caribbean: 1999+

6. Jamaica
Population: 2,553,400.
Land area: 11,424 sq km.
Tourist arrivals by air: 1,192,194 (+2.6% on prev. yr.)
Tourist arrivals by cruise ship: 711,699 (+8.2% on prev. yr.)
Total Tourist Expenditures: $1,131.0 million USD.
Tourism Budget: $33.9 million USD.
GDP at factor cost: $6,221.0 million USD.
1994 figures on whale watching: Nil.
1998 figures on whale watching: Nil.
Whale-watching ports (current or potential): Negril, Port Antonio, Black River,
Montego Bay Marine Park.
Land-based viewing sites: Limited information.
Whale-watching potential: Moderate.
(Figures above are latest figures for 1997, except as noted.)
Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean, after Cuba and Hispaniola. It
measures approximately 150 miles from east to west and is 20-50 miles wide. An
independent country with a distinctive character and flavour all its own, Jamaica has made
major contributions to world music (reggae), food (Blue Mountain coffee), and many other
aspects of culture. It also has many endemic animal and plant species including 27 unique
birds, 20 lizards, and more than 784 flowering plants, but it has been slow to declare
protected areas and address environmental problems (World Resources Institute 1993).
The tourism industry, the largest industry and main source of foreign exchange, is well
established and extremely large — the Caribbean's fifth largest in total expenditures, with
the fourth largest number of tourist arrivals and the sixth highest number of visiting cruise
passengers. Most of the tourism development has been aimed at the upper end of the
market, but there is growing support and recognition of the importance of ecotourism,
particularly through lodges and facilities for hikers and backpackers such as in the Blue
Mountains.
In June 1992, the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act established a
regulatory body for practical environmental management in Jamaica. The regulatory
body's mandate is to promote public awareness of Jamaica's ecological systems; to manage
the national parks, marine parks and protected areas; and to promote public awareness of
Jamaica's natural wonders and its ecological systems.
The establishment of the 10-square-mile (26 sq km) Montego Bay Marine Park in
1990 has been a significant first step for marine ecotourism. The park supports outstanding
mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs. In this marine protected area located adjacent to
the most popular area of Jamaica (40% of visitors stay in Montego Bay), diving is
encouraged but fishing, boating and other watersports are restricted to certain areas.
Bottlenose dolphins and pilot whales are sometimes seen within the park and also in the
surrounding areas, especially late in the year when seawater temperatures drop a little.
There are marine nature cruises in the park, but cetaceans are not thought to be predictable
enough for dedicated dolphin-watch tours.
In the early 1990s, Hal Whitehead found sperm whales and various dolphins in
waters close to the western end of the island in May. He had suggested the possibility of
whale watch day tours out of Negril, but stressed that more research needed to be done to
determine the regularity of sightings.
In February 1995, Jenny Lonsdale heard reports of whale and dolphin sightings off
the west coast from Negril. At the Paradise Beach Hotel, where she was staying, the hotel
owner said that he saw sperm whales when taking people out sportfishing. Other fishermen
and marine tour boat owners also commonly saw the whales. On a pilot trip, she and a
group of family and friends found sperm whales just beyond the main reef west of Negril,
less than a mile (a half hour) from port and still within sight of the shore. The whales were
mothers and calves. In an hour and a half of whale watching, nine sperm whales were
seen.
31