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November. This is probably due to a combination of the main season for overseas tourists, the September holiday period and the improvement in weather and sea conditions. As demand for boatbased whale watching continues to grow, it is likely that the full season will eventually become fully utilised subject to limitations by weather conditions. Further east, particularly along the Garden Route, year-round viewing is more viable because of the presence of both Humpback and Bryde’s whales. Yet demand for whale watching is also limited in season (mainly August to December). In KZN, tourist demand was strongly linked to school holiday periods and is highest in August to November, but is extended by the increasingly well-known Sardine Run during June to August. The consistent underutilisation of the full whale-viewing period highlights the importance of marketing and increased awareness among tourists and other stakeholders in the tourism industry. Such utilisation would optimise the use of the whale resources and maximise the utility associated with obtaining a permit. Each permitted operator is required to record all of their boat-based whale watching activities in a logbook, including details of trips and passengers. Several sources, including some operators, maintained that the logbooks varied considerably in accuracy, depending on the operators involved. We thus augmented these data with relevant questions in the interview survey of licence holders. The average operating season for boat-based whale watching by permit holders ranged from 2.5 to 7 months of the year, with an average boat-based whale watching season of 5.3 months spread between the months of July and November for most operators (Figure 5.6, Figure 5.7). The shortest season was recorded by an operator in the Cape Metro whose operation was only viable for a short peak period. The longest season described fell within the Garden Route region. Although the main whale watching season was described as seven months, it was noted that whales could be observed on their marine tours during most of the year. A mean of 126.3 days per year were considered suitable for boat-based whale watching in terms of seas and weather conditions and the availability of whales. The majority of permit holders identified sea conditions (64%) as the main limiting factor for the maximum number of trips possible during a day in season. For the rest, trip numbers were limited by tourist demand. 16 No of permitted operators 12 8 4 KZN E Cape W Cape 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Figure 5.6. No of permit holders active in boat-based whale watching during different months of the year according to province, based on interview data. 23
80 No of trips 70 60 50 40 30 KZN Overberg Garden Route Cape Metro 20 10 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Figure 5.7. Seasonality in the number of trips by representative operators in four parts of the country, based on logbook data. Only trips where whales were sighted are included to remover over reporting bias by some operators. Estimates of the numbers of trips and passengers varied depending on whether logbook or interview data were used. Operators conducted up to 4 or 5 trips per day during the whale watching season. The average occupancy rate per trip was between 54% (logbook data) and 63% (interview data). Logbook and respondent estimates of occupancy rates were largely in agreement, with the exception of two major discrepancies, in which logbook estimates were very much lower (Figure 5.8). Occupancy rates per trip were highest in the Garden Route and Maputaland, and lowest in the Cape Metro and the Sunshine Coast, with low occupancy rates also being associated with large boats. 1.2 Occupancy per trip: Interview 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 Occupancy per trip: Logbook data Figure 5.8. Comparison of estimates of mean occupancy per trip from logbook and interview data. Up to 244 trips per year were recorded in logbooks for permitted boats in 2004. The total number of passengers recorded on permitted boats for the 2004 season ranged from none to 6600 per permit 24
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 30 and 31: Two very large boats excluded, a ty
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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