Whale Watching Worldwide

References:
Hoyt, E & Iñíguez, M 2008, ‘The State of Whale Watching in Latin America’, WDCS, Chippenham, UK; IFAW, Yarmouth
Port, USA; and Global Ocean, London, 60 pp..
Dominica
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
operators
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total
expenditure
1991 14 N/A 1 $14,000 $0 $14,000
1994 1,100 328.3% 1 $50,000 $333,000 $383,000
1998 5,000 46% 4 $127,000 $843,000 $970,000
2008 14,500 11.2% 4 $585,000 $1,200,000 $1,785,000
Capital City: Roseau
Whale Watch Locations:
01: Roseau
02: Portsmouth
Dominica is a mountainous country whose topography continues
underwater in the sea surrounding the islands, creating deep ocean
trenches close to shore. These trenches, combined with the warm,
sheltered waters of the island’s west coast, have made this area an
ideal mating and calving ground for the animal kingdom’s most
proficient diver, the deep feeding sperm whale. One group of these
whales is thought to remain in local waters year round. Dominica
also plays year‐round host to Cuvier’s beaked whales and seven species of dolphin, including the short‐
finned pilot whale, melon‐headed whale, false killer whale, dwarf and pygmy sperm whales, pantropical
spotted, spinner and Fraser’s dolphins, though some of these species are elusive and seldom glimpsed. In
addition, migratory species such as Bryde’s and humpback whales, also grace these waters from November
to April. As a result, the country is now the premier site for whale watching in the eastern Caribbean with a
history of whale watching going back to the early 1990s (see local case study below).
Since the last global review of whale watching, tourist arrivals to Dominica have comfortably doubled, and
whale watching has kept abreast of this change, with approximately 5,000 whale watchers in 1998 growing
to 14,500 in 2008. Ticket prices have stayed reasonably constant in this time, but the swell in numbers has
nevertheless resulted in a growth in direct expenditure from $127,000 to approximately $585,000.
The two original whale watching companies continue to service the bulk of the Dominican whale watching
industry, with the two smaller operators taking fewer tourists on slightly longer tours. Of these companies,
three operate from Roseau on the island’s southwest coast. The fourth, run by Fitzroy Jones ‐ the original
pioneer of Dominican whale watching – operates non‐invasive whale, dolphin and turtle research safaris
along the northwest coast out of Portsmouth.
As cruise ship‐based tourism tends to dominate Dominica’s general tourist influx ‐ bringing seven to eight
times as many visitors to Dominica in 2007‐8 as arrived by plane ‐ the indirect expenditure attributable to
whale watchers is disproportionately low. Tour operators report that between 50‐90% of their whale
watching patrons are from cruise ships. Dominica’s lack of direct air connections to its main tourist source
countries doubtless continues to strongly affect these proportions. However, this also limits the
developmental impact that tourism has had upon Dominica’s environment, in contrast to many of its
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