Whale Watching Worldwide

Brazil
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
operators
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total
expenditure
1991 Minimal N/A Minimal Minimal Minimal Minimal
1994 175,000 N/A N/A $2,500,000 $6,250,000 $8,750,000
1998 167,107 ‐1.1% N/A $4,071,000 $7,243,000 $11,314,000
2006 228,946 4.0% 44 $6,316,288 $25,190,550 $31,506,838
Capital City: Brasília
Whale Watch Locations:
01: Anhatomirim
02: Fernando do Noronha
03: Amazonas
Brazil has a large and varied cetacean watching industry. The main
areas are Anhatomirim, off Santa Catarina in the southeast;
Fernando de Noronha, an island off the State of Pernambuco in the
country’s northeast; and the Amazon basin.
Approximately 130,000 people go dolphin watching around Bahia
Norte de Santa Catarina and the protected area at Anhatomirim.
These are not dedicated cetacean watching trips, although the tucuxi dolphins feature in many operators’
promotional materials. A range of craft, often schooner sailboats, takes visitors for cruises around the island.
Concerns have been raised in this area about the impact of many boats on the dolphin population.
Fernando do Noronha is an isolated island 350km off the State of Pernambuco. The popular beach resort
has around 70,000 people watching spinner dolphins each year.
While there are few dedicated dolphin watching trips in the Amazon region, many tourists see them during
visits to jungle lodges on cruise ships, trekking or canoeing. Hoyt and Iñíguez (2008) estimate that 10% of
the 100,000 foreign tourists going to Amazonas and the rest of the Brazilian Amazon watch dolphins.
Larger cetaceans can be watched at Praia do Forte, Bahia, near Salvador and Imbituba, Santa Catarina. Each
of these location host several thousand whale watchers per year.
Main species: Large cetaceans:
Humpback whale, minke whale, southern
right whale
Small cetaceans:
Amazon River dolphin, bottlenose dolphin,
spinner dolphin, tucuxi
Tourists:
International abou25%
Domestic about 75%
Types of tours: Land and boat‐based, day trips and longer
cruises.
Average adult ticket price: $28
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