Whale Watching Worldwide

Bangladesh
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
operators
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total
expenditure
1991 None N/A None None None None
1994 None N/A None None None None
1998 None N/A None None None None
2008 25 N/A 1 $1,375 $575 $1,950
Capital City: Dhaka
Whale Watch Locations:
01: Sundarban mangrove forests
Bangladesh has one nature tour operator that offers cetacean
watching opportunities. Most of these cruises are around the
Sundarban mangrove forests, where opportunistic sightings of
Ganges River dolphins are common, along with occasional sightings
of Irrawaddy dolphins and finless porpoises. Opportunistic
watching of dolphins on these tours has not been quantified here;
the above numbers refer to dedicated whale watching trips that the
operator sometimes organises in conjunction with the Bangladesh
Cetacean Diversity Project. The trips go into the Bay of Bengal, to the Swatch‐of‐No‐Ground, a deep
submarine canyon where several cetacean species can be found: Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins,
pantropical spotted dolphins, spinner dolphins and Bryde’s whales.
Cetacean watching is not yet an important factor in attracting tourists to Bangladesh. Cetacean watching
mostly opportunistic and only a small portion of expenditure can be considered attributable to cetaceans.
The operators may offer more dedicated trips in the future.
Main species: Large cetaceans:
Bryde’s whale
Small cetaceans:
finless porpoise, Ganges River dolphin,
Irrawaddy dolphin, Indo‐Pacific humpback
dolphin
Tourists:
International 40%
Domestic 60%
Types of tours: Around one dedicated trip per year by boat
into the Bay of Bengal. Regular tours of
Sundarbans forest by boat offer opportunistic
dolphin watching.
Average adult ticket price: Varies with tour
Estimated employment
1
numbers:
Main whale watch season: December to February
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Elisabeth and Rubaiyat Mansur at Bangladesh Cetacean Diversity Project.
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