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holder, with a total of just over 32 000 passengers. However, a direct comparison between the
logbook data and estimates based on interview data regarding permitted boat activities suggested
that there were some major discrepancies between the two (Figure 5.9).
700
No trips: based on interview data
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
No. trips: Logbook records
Figure 5.9. Comparison of initial estimates of number of whale watching trips in 2004 from logbook and
interview data.
The discrepancies suggest that there are some cases of under-reporting in the logbooks, and some
cases where apparent over reporting occurs. The latter is thought to be due to the inclusion of all
marine tours undertaken by the permitted boat, as evident from the number of months and days on
which data are recorded (Table 5.2). While providing excellent, year-round data on the resource, for
this analysis it was important to separate the actual whale watching activity, especially since it was
apparent that not all operators had recorded data in this way. Thus logbook data were reanalysed to
isolate the trips on which whale sightings occurred. This would include some whale watching trips in
season on which whales were not sighted, as well as non whale watching trips out of season on
which whales were sighted, but these are assumed to balance one another out.
From this analysis it was apparent that four operators reported all activities of the licensed boats, with
whale sightings occurring on 23 - 82% of trips, and the remainder reported just their whale watching
activities, with whale sightings occurring on 92 – 100% (average 98%) of trips.
Based on the revised data set, up to 385 whale watching trips were made per operator, varying
greatly from one operator to the next (Table 5.2). Four permit holders did not record any trips, though
two of these did conduct a few. Estimates of the total number of passengers based primarily on
logbook data, but supplemented by interview data in cases where interviewees stated that they had
not completed logbooks properly, suggested that the permitted boats carried an overall total of just
over 26 000 passengers (Table 5.2).
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