Whale Watching, the International Community, and IFAW's Global Impact

Recognizing the importance of whale watching as a benign, sustainable use of cetaceans, IFAW initiated a project in 1995 to develop a factual basis for the promotion and management of responsible whale watching. We highlighted its flow-on benefits for whale conservation and the preservation of the marine environment.

IFAW focused on the IWC in order to spark discussions there on how to ensure that rapidly expanding whale-watch activities are not harmful to whales. To this end, six international workshops were convened to produce:

** Authoritative evaluations of the issues and the present situation.
** Guidelines for future actions, including proposals for scientific research and relevant social, political, economic, educational, legal and administrative studies and activities.

Efforts were then made to adopt IWC Resolutions recognizing the results and recommendations of the workshops. IFAW's reports have contributed significantly to scientific discussions within the IWC, and IFAW is actively engaged in the IWC Sub-Committee on Whale Watching.

Reports of all six workshops are as follows:

• Workshop on Scientific Aspects of Managing Whale Watching, Montecastello di Vibio, Italy, 30 March-4 April 1995.
• Workshop on the Special Aspects of Watching Sperm Whales, Roseau, Dominica, 8-11 January 1996.
• Workshop on the Educational Values of Whale Watching, Provincetown, Mass., USA, 8-11 May 1997.
• Workshop on the Legal Aspects of Whale Watching, Punta Arenas, Chile, 17-20 November 1997.
• Workshop on Socioeconomic Aspects of Whale Watching, Kaikoura, New Zealand, 8-12 December 1997.
• Report of the Closing Workshop Reviewing Various Aspects of Whale Watching. Tuscany, Italy 6-10 February 2000.

IFAW has also produced best practice and natural history brochures on: Sperm whales (English, Japanese and Portuguese); Minke whales (English); Harbor porpoises (English); North Atlantic right whales (English); Whales of the Wider Caribbean (a field guide in English, Spanish and French); and Whale watching in Tonga.

Conducting Whale-Watching Feasibility Studies

IFAW scientists have conducted feasibility studies for whale watching in the eastern Caribbean, Iceland and the Seychelles. Studies of vessel impacts on whales were conducted in New Zealand and sponsored in Brazil and Uruguay.

Reports from these studies include:
Gordon, J., Leaper, R., Hartley, F.G. and Chappell, 0. (1992). Effects of whale watching vessels on the surface and underwater acoustic behaviour of sperm whales off Kaikoura, New Zealand. Science and Research Series No. 52. Department of Conservation, New Zealand.

Leaper, R., Fairbairns, R., Gordon, J., Hiby, A., Lovell, P. and Papastavrou, V. (1997) Assessment of relative abundance and distribution of the minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) using data collected from a whale watching operation. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. 47: 505-511

Lindquist, 0., and Tryggvadottir, M.H. 1990. Whale watching in Iceland. A feasibility study. Akureyi, Iceland, May 1990. 30 pages

Gordon, J., Moscrop, A., Carlson, C., Ingram, S., Leaper, R., Matthews, J. and Young, K. (1998). Distribution, movement and residency of sperm whales off Dominica, Eastern Caribbean: implications for the development and regulation of the local whale watching industry. Rep. int. Whal. Commn. 48: 551-5.

IFAW continues to assist in the development of responsible whale watching around the world.