The Potential of Whale Watching in the Caribbean: 1999+

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CONCLUSION Whale watching in the islands of the Greater Caribbean is a culturally and economically diverse enterprise which is becoming increasingly important in certain countries and territories. Commercial whale watching occurs in 14 of 23 countries and territories located in the Caribbean. In 1998, an estimated 39,000 people went whale watching in the Greater Caribbean, producing total revenues of nearly $10 million USD (£6.2 million UK). This represents an average increase of 20.2% per year between 1994 and 1998. This rate is almost certainly higher than the current world growth rate. The world whale watching growth rate from 1991-1994 was 10.3% per year. However, whale watching in the Caribbean can still be said to be in its infancy, and thus a 20.2 % average annual growth rate represents a slow down from the rapid growth seen in the earlier period of 1991-1994 in the Caribbean — 113.8% per year. Thus, the overall potential for whale watching in the Caribbean is largely yet to be realised. The potential in individual countries and islands has been rated at considerable to outstanding in 11 out of 23. Only in 4 countries can the potential be said to be only minimal. In each of the country sections of this report, various recommendations are given for improving and expanding whale watching to achieve its potential. Please consult the individual countries for the suggestions relating to that country. Many of these suggestions, however, can be said to fall generally under the following areas: 1. Education. The educational content of whale watch tours varies considerably throughout the region from almost nothing to a high standard. Education can mean having guidebooks available on board every boat and inviting school children to see and learn about whales. The most important aspect is having a good, trained naturalist on every trip. A naturalist guide not only helps people learn about whales and dolphins and teaches them to protect the resource, but it is a good business decision. The most successful whale watch tours in the world depend on their naturalists. The naturalist, like any good tour guide, takes the responsibility for engaging visitors and showing them a good time. Naturalists show people how to appreciate and learn from nature. The whale watch naturalist is the go-between the visitors and the whales, and thus has that crucial educational and conservation role. A good naturalist also keeps customers coming back and telling their friends. The best naturalists attract customers by reputation, and such tours require less investment in advertising and marketing. These ideas were explored in depth at the 1997 Workshop on the Educational Aspects of Whale Watching (Provincetown, Mass.) and at the 1998 International Forum on Dolphins and Whales (Muroran, Japan). 2. Survey effort. Various cetacean surveys have been made throughout the region over the past two decades, such as the intensive humpback whale YONAH project, the spotted dolphin research in the Bahamas, and various sperm whale studies in the Eastern Caribbean. These studies have helped to identify new areas where these and other cetaceans may be found. In the past few years, more finedetail surveys have been made by the Bahamas Marine Mammal Survey and IFAW, for example. Additional studies throughout the region are needed to expand knowledge of cetacean abundance and distribution, particularly small cetaceans, and would contribute to the effort to identify and manage some of these populations of which relatively little is known. 3. Regulations and guidelines. Eight countries or overseas territories have come up with draft or final regulations or guidelines for whale watching. This represents more than half of all the countries or territories that have some commercial whale watching. Of the eight places with guidelines or regulations, however, only two (25%) have the force of law. Even those areas with laws in place find enforcement a constant problem. Enforcement of whale watch regulations in the 72
Caribbean, as in most other parts of the world, is almost nonexistent. It is important for areas with whale watching to work with stakeholders to come up with guidelines and to work towards making those guidelines into enforceable regulations. Considerable background information is available on this topic, starting with the 1995 Report of the Workshop on the Scientific Aspects of Managing Whale Watching. 4. Socioeconomic studies. It would be useful in those countries where cetaceans are ignored, captured, or killed to measure the social and economic benefits and costs of whale watching against hunting and various other uses of whales as part of a comprehensive economic welfare and economic impact assessment, using a technique such as cost-benefit analysis. These ideas and this recommendation comes from the 1997 Workshop on the Socioeconomic Aspects of Whale Watching (Kaikoura, New Zealand). Tourism is the main industry throughout most of the Greater Caribbean region. For the 23 island nations and territories, in 1997, there were 15 million visitors arriving by air. In addition, 10.6 million cruise ship passengers stopped in one or more ports. Total tourist expenditures were $13.5 billion USD (CTO 1997). Whale watching is a comparatively small though growing part of this, but it is arguably a crucial aspect of image making. For those countries that have successful whale watching tours, the presence of whales and dolphins and the possibility of seeing them can lend a natural, romantic allure which can feed into existing national images or help create new ones. If tourism is largely about selling an image, whales and dolphins offer considerable possibilities. But for this to be successful, attention must be paid to the educational, scientific, and conservation, as well as to the commercial aspects. 73
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The Potential of Whale Watching in
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CONTENTS Executive Summary 4 Author
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• Caribbean whale watch operation
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INTRODUCTION Slightly larger in are
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Table 1. Checklist for starting, ex
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swim-with-dolphin excursions into B
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worthy plan for this area, or one t
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Bahamian Dolphin Guidelines These g
Page 17 and 18:
longest coastline in the Caribbean.
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magnet for tourists and is a good a
Page 21 and 22: Acknowledgments: Baker 1998, Dean B
Page 23 and 24: the high value that dedicated whale
Page 25 and 26: the communication and general knowl
Page 27 and 28: Protección de los Mamíferos Marin
Page 29 and 30: 2.1 The capture, hurting, killing,
Page 31 and 32: 6. Jamaica Population: 2,553,400. L
Page 33 and 34: (Figures above are latest figures f
Page 35 and 36: Desecheo), located in the Mona Pass
Page 37 and 38: 9. US Virgin Islands (USA), includi
Page 39 and 40: system allows him to hear and recor
Page 41 and 42: water below it. The coat of arms is
Page 43 and 44: Aruba Population: 89,000. Land area
Page 45 and 46: February through April, and occasio
Page 47 and 48: 15. Antigua and Barbuda (UK) Popula
Page 49 and 50: Guadeloupe, a French overseas depar
Page 51 and 52: 4) Ne pas passer plus de 30 minutes
Page 53 and 54: 1998, Jonathan Gordon and his colle
Page 55 and 56: 2. That it should be in the interes
Page 57 and 58: The following guidelines for whale
Page 59 and 60: February to April when the waters t
Page 61 and 62: tourism are distributed more evenly
Page 63 and 64: avoid any negative impacts on the p
Page 65 and 66: 20. St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Page 67 and 68: However, taking mothers and calves
Page 69 and 70: 22. Barbados Population: 265,350. L
Page 71: frequency of Bryde's whale sighting
Page 75 and 76: IFAW. 1996b. Cetacean Field Researc
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