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Two very large boats excluded, a typical boat-based whale watching boat is about 5 to 10m, with a maximum capacity of 10 to 20 passengers (Figure 5.4). Nevertheless, boat capacity ranged widely, and was influenced by the type of launching or mooring facilities available. A total of nine active permit holders interviewed had access to suitable mooring facilities which they did utilise, with eight of these occurring in the Western Cape and the ninth in Port Elizabeth. Mooring faculties offered a wide range of opportunities in terms of boat size, whereas launching from a beach or slipway limited the size of the boats (with the legal maximum for a beach launch being 12 passengers). The two permitted boats with the largest capacity (50 or more passengers) were based near large harbours with sheltered mooring areas (Figure 5.4). 25 20 moorings beach or slipway launch Boat length 15 10 5 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Passenger capacity Figure 5.4. Length and passenger capacity of permitted boats, separated according to type of launching facilities. The oldest boat in use was 30yrs old, with an average age of 7.5 years and estimated remaining lifespan of around 11 years (Table 5.1). It should be noted that permit holders varied in their approach to boat maintenance and use, with extremes illustrated by one operator indicating he would use his boat “until the end” while another suggested he aimed to trade his current boat in every three years to maximise safety and efficiency. Over 70% of active permit holders interviewed felt that their current passenger capacity was not optimal (Figure 5.5). This probably reflects the developing status of the industry. Most permit holders felt that a larger passenger capacity would be preferable, except the owner of the largest boat, who would prefer to decrease capacity in order to get a smaller and faster boat. If all permit holders achieved their ideal, average passenger capacity per permit would increase to 30 passengers. It should however be noted that increased passenger capacity does not necessarily mean increased boat size. Operators that did not have access to mooring facilities indicated that regulations and safety concerns over local launch and sea conditions placed a limit on the size and passenger capacity of a single boat. In these cases it was indicated that it would be preferable to increase the number of boats to increase passenger capacity. It was also noted that smaller boats were preferred as they improved the level of interaction with the clients and added to their experience of seeing the whales. In areas with suitable mooring and harbours, a number of operators indicated that concrete plans were in place to achieve optimal boat sizes in the near future. Permit holders in the remaining areas who required additional boats in order to boost capacity were, however, restricted by existing permit conditions which allow only one boat per permit. This places a severe constraint on some permit holders and will need to be addressed by management in order to achieve the desired growth in the industry. 21
70 60 50 Optimal 40 30 20 10 moorings beach and slipway launch 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Current Figure 5.5. Current versus optimal passenger capacity for active permit holders with different types of launching facilities. The dotted line indicates the point where current capacity is equal to optimal capacity. Points above the line indicate an increase in capacity would be optimal. 5.7 Use of permitted boats Apart from boats that were leased just for the whale watching season, most boats were used by the permit holders for other purposes in addition to boat-based whale watching. Only one boat was used exclusively for boat-based whale watching. On average, 60% of all annual sea days by permitted boats were dedicated to boat-based whale watching tours. The rest were either eco-tours and other trips or fishing (commercial or charters). The most common alternative use was for various eco-tours and pleasure trips related to the viewing of marine organisms and scenery, accounting for an average of 40% of sea days by those operators who offered such trips. One boat was used for charter fishing in the off season (18% of sea days). 5.8 Trip characteristics Most whale watching trips were about 2 hours long, occasionally longer where conditions were less ideal. With a few exceptions, whale watching trips are generally longer than other marine tours, which tend to last about 1 hour. This is usually due to the increased travelling time incurred to reach the whales. In other words, whale watching tends to increase the time of marine tours. Thus it was not surprising that several operators sought to minimise their time at sea by purchasing faster boats or relocating to nearer launch sites as appropriate. One operator who used to offer a 3hr dedicated whale watching trip ceased operations, citing the lack of financial viability. 5.9 Seasonality, number of trips and passengers An important factor is the variation in timing of the presence of whales, suitable weather conditions and the periods of peak demand for viewing by tourists. In the Western Cape, whale watching focuses on the Southern Right Whale, which occurs mainly in July to December. Tourist demand, depending on the level of marketing by individual operators, tends to be greatest during August to 22
Page 3: BOAT-BASED WHALE WATCHING IN SOUTH
Page 6 and 7: owners, who felt that a smaller, fa
Page 8 and 9: TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION..
Page 10 and 11: 1. INTRODUCTION The whale watching
Page 12 and 13: the main whale watching season. All
Page 14 and 15: 3. WHALE WATCHING: AN INTERNATIONAL
Page 16 and 17: location. Most cetaceans spend the
Page 18 and 19: 3.2 South Africa in perspective Boa
Page 20 and 21: Table 3.3 excludes countries where
Page 22 and 23: west coast up to February or March
Page 24 and 25: The designated areas also include a
Page 26 and 27: 5. PERMIT-HOLDER CHARACTERISTICS, S
Page 28 and 29: The majority of permitted operators
Page 32 and 33: November. This is probably due to a
Page 34 and 35: holder, with a total of just over 3
Page 36 and 37: Based on rack rates and the estimat
Page 38 and 39: 5.12 What determines success Based
Page 40 and 41: impact along the Garden Route, anot
Page 42 and 43: 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20
Page 44 and 45: 6.2 Western Cape The Western Cape P
Page 46 and 47: Equipment and infrastructure The fu
Page 48 and 49: around 30 to 35 passengers were per
Page 50 and 51: advertising material which offered
Page 52 and 53: generally variable in their length,
Page 54 and 55: Non-permitted activity One dedicate
Page 56 and 57: Equipment, trip characteristics and
Page 58 and 59: 6.4 KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal cur
Page 60 and 61: visitors can be accommodated before
Page 62 and 63: Run on its way past Durban. Trips w
Page 64 and 65: Operators in Area 25 also offered d
Page 66 and 67: 6.5 Summary of legal and illegal ac
Page 68 and 69: 7. FUTURE POTENTIAL OF THE INDUSTRY
Page 70 and 71: Overall demand is heavily influence
Page 72 and 73: The most important enabling criteri
Page 74 and 75: The Cape Metro area is a major tour
Page 76 and 77: focused on harbour trips and until
Page 78 and 79: Wetland Park, Pondoland, the Greate
Page 80 and 81:
8.3 The permit system, conditions a
Page 82 and 83:
Monitoring will also be vital for e
Page 84 and 85:
15. Data collected by operators and
Page 86 and 87:
Woods-Ballard, A.J., Parsons, E.C.M
Page 88 and 89:
11. APPENDIX 2. SUMMARY OF COMMERCI
Page 90 and 91:
used for whale watching must be acc
Page 92 and 93:
Both the National and state governm
Page 94 and 95:
effort to be controlled through res
Page 96 and 97:
not is broached several times each
Page 98 and 99:
11.5 South America 11.5.1 Ecuador T
Page 100 and 101:
The Dominican Republic has strict c
Page 102 and 103:
12. APPENDIX 3: NOTIFICATION OF PER
Page 104 and 105:
4. Applicants must be willing to si
Page 106 and 107:
SIMONSTOWN AREA Cape Point Lighthou
Page 108 and 109:
PLETTENBERG BAY AREA The Western Bo
Page 110 and 111:
(iii) the extent to which the appli
Page 112 and 113:
Table I. Rating of the whale resour
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