Whale Watching Worldwide

for starting up sustainable whale watching – sustainable both in the economic and the environmental sense.
Among other measures, it calls for precautionary space and time rules whereby one‐third of every whale and
dolphin area and one‐third of daylight hours are kept free from whale watching (Hoyt 2007).
Will these measures eliminate all concerns? No, but they help. In this regard, we must keep a sense of
perspective about two things. First, there is the ever‐present threat of increased hunting, whaling, culling or
allowing casual bycatch to fisheries, as well as the worldwide shipping industry which may be increasing
even faster than whale watching and is largely responsible for the rising number of whales hit by ships. With
a 3‐4 dB increase (a doubling) of background noise every decade since the 1950s, there is evidence that in
some cases whales are having to yell to be heard over the noise of speeding ships, and this may affect their
ability to get out of the way if the sounds are masked or the whales are deafened (e.g., Agardy et al. 2007).
Even those who criticize whale watching for its encroachment on wild whale populations are quick to point
out that it is far less a threat than whaling in terms of a ‘use’ for whales. Still, whale watching must not be
allowed to add to the problems of whales and dolphins, but must help and be part of the solution, to build
awareness and contribute actively to whale survival. We can say that whale watching is a positive force in
most of the world, but it must be carefully managed.
The second thing is simply a recognition that with the huge worldwide extent of whale watching — 13
million people taking tens of thousands of whale watch trips every year — there are going to be accidents,
collisions with whales, impacts on certain populations, and other problems, in short, costs to whales and the
marine environment. This is simply a factor of the huge numbers of people involved. When whale watching
was a few thousand people venturing out in small boats along the California coast, this was not an issue. Of
course, when we know the problems, we must strive to solve them, to increase the benefits and reduce the
costs to as close to zero as we can.
Whale watching is not perfect, but I firmly believe that whale watching in 2009 — with its educational,
scientific and community‐based economic benefits — remains largely a positive force for conservation.
People must come to know the animals if they are truly to care for them and about them. An economic
incentive helps make that happen.
The future of whales and dolphins may well depend, to a surprising extent, on the future of whale watching.
California fisherman Chuck Chamberlin could not have imagined that his $1 whale watch tours on a then
endangered species would some day become a world‐wide phenomenon crucial to getting people to care
about marine mammals and the sea. When we meet whales and dolphins in their natural habitat, we
become involved not only with individuals but with extended families, the threats they face and their need
for habitat, safe havens or homes in the sea (Hoyt 2005). In the future, we need an ever healthier, higher
quality, fully engaged whale watch industry. With such an industry, we could have the chance to show that
we can have a sustainable relationship with wildlife that is mutually beneficial.
What is the true value of whales and dolphins? The expenditure, as compiled in this report, only hints at the
answer to this question, and doesn’t begin to tell us the ‘total value’. Some 3,300 whale watch operators in
hundreds of communities worldwide have come to depend on whale watching for their livelihood as well as
their developing relationship with the sea. Communities have gained a sense of mission with a strong
educational mandate that branches out from the operator to the community, to children and adults, to the
visitors who go whale watching and take the messages home (IFAW et al. 1997). Whale watch operators
have contributed millions of dollars toward whale research in terms of raw data, substantial free boat time
for researchers, as well as financial contributions (Hoyt 2008). The best operators have created ‘floating
classrooms’ from which to learn about the sea.
Yet, an even greater indication of true value, perhaps, comes from the degree to which many of us depend
on whales for our sense of wonder — our hope about the future of the sea itself. We want a world alive with
possibility, a world in which whales swim free in the sea. Even for those of us who may never see whales, we
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