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6.5 Summary of legal and illegal activity There is a considerable amount of non-permitted activity around the country. This is ascribed to difficulties in enforcing regulations pertaining to the approach of whales and the advertising of boatbased whale watching. Advertising by non-permitted operators is fairly widespread. In some cases this is highly visible and permanent, and often in direct competition with existing permit holders. Whale watching operators can be broken down into 4 main types as follows: • Permit holders: are legitimately permitted operators advertising and offering boat-based whale watching trips aimed at viewing whales, though other species and attractions may feature. Though generally found in the prime boat-based whale watching areas, more recent or less successful permitted operators probably indicate areas where individuals see future opportunities for growth and view the purchase of a permit as a pre-emptive attempt to gain a foothold in the industry in their particular area (e.g. Areas 3, 5, 6, 11). • Dedicated non-permitted operators: are non-permitted operators offering trips in which whales are advertised as an attraction and which represent one of the main explicit aims of their tours. Marketing may be carefully worded to avoid legal difficulties but confusion with legitimate permit holders is easy and probably intentional. These operators are most likely to present the pool of future or alternative permit holders. The majority of such operators are found in areas where there is little existing activity by the current permit holder or where none currently exist e.g. Areas 1, 3, 5, 22 and 25. The existence of such operators and their continued success may be good indicators of the viability of boat-based whale watching in a particular permit area. • Incidental non-permitted operators: are non-permitted operators offering pleasure trips, marketed on the basis that they may see a number of attractions, which include whales in season. These operators largely view whales incidentally but in some cases may make special efforts to improve their chances of seeing whales during their trips. They are differentiated from the previous category by the lack of an explicit whale-focus on their trips. In addition to areas where dedicated non-permitted operators are found, the majority of these operators appear to be located in centres for generalised coastal tourism which present them with a substantial pool of “walk on” clientele. Where no dedicated non-permitted operators exist, the presence of incidental operators only is likely to indicate a highly seasonal or specialised tourism market, and often one where the whale resource is relatively underutilised e.g. Areas 2 and 3. Conversely, larger areas which support other boat-based tourism operators will also lend themselves to supporting incidental boat-based whale watching e.g. Area 4. • Opportunistic non-permitted operators: are non-permitted operators with access to boats but do not primarily offer pleasure trips. They are usually dependent on diving, fishing charters and other activities. During peak seasons or when activity in their preferred business is low they will take clients out on pleasure trips, in some cases explicitly to view whales. They are, however, categorised by the opportunistic and sporadic nature of their activity and the minimal marketing done for that aspect of their business. This category is difficult to identify out of whale watching season and theuir numbers may have been underestimated. Such operators are limited to areas known as generalised coastal tourism destinations or large harbours with significant boat traffic. The presence of such operators in the absence of other more active whale watching tourism may indicate areas with low potential for boat-based whale watching at present. KwaZulu-Natal is estimated to have the highest degree of non-permitted activity (Table 6.1). It also has the highest number of potential permit holders for areas currently non-permitted. 57
Table 6.1. Estimates of the amount of non-permitted activity in different BBWW Areas. BBWW Area Permit holders Non-permitted operators Dedicated Incidental Opportunistic Western Cape 1 1 2 1-2 1-2 3 1 1 1-2 1-2 4 1 4 5 1 1 6 2 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 1 1 13 1 1 14 2 1 Eastern Cape 15 1 1 16 2 17 2 18 19 1 KwaZulu-Natal 20 1 1 21 1 1 2 4-5 22 1 3-4 23 24 1 2 2 25 2 2 58
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BOAT-BASED WHALE WATCHING IN SOUTH
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owners, who felt that a smaller, fa
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION..
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1. INTRODUCTION The whale watching
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the main whale watching season. All
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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 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 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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