Displacement

Marine tourism can result in cetaceans moving away from their preferred habitats, which can lead to changes in their migration patterns, distribution and behavior. This can have negative impacts on these marine mammals’ reproductive success, survival and overall health. It is important to manage marine tourism to minimize negative impacts on whales and dolphins. This can include establishing guidelines for vessel behavior, limiting the number of boats in a particular area, and educating tourists on appropriate behavior around these animals.

Sustainable tourism, such as responsible whale watching, benefits humans as well as vulnerable marine animals through increased public support for conservation of ocean ecosystems, income generation for those living in coastal communities and even help fund ongoing scientific research.

Pacific Whale Foundation (PWF) has studied the effects of ocean tourism on marine environments and wildlife throughout the Pacific region in an effort to quantify disturbance from human activity and provide science-based solutions. In Hawai‘i, a trio of published scientific papers by PWF researchers proved instrumental in establishing approach limits and time-area closures for local diurnal populations, such as spinner and bottlenose dolphins, ensuring that vessels don’t disrupt crucial rest periods necessary to effectively feed at night and reproduce.

The findings from our research are incorporated into best practice guidelines to minimize the impact of whale and dolphin watching. PWF has developed Be Whale Aware and Be Dolphin Wise as general guidelines that have global relevance where geography-specific guidelines are not available. We aim to use our findings to develop geography-specific regulations, such as the Go Slow, Whales Below inter-agency guidelines implemented in the state of Hawai’i.

While PWF has long incorporated strict speed and approach limits for ecotour vessel operators employed through our social enterprise, PacWhale Eco-Adventures (PacWhale), continued education, research, regulation compliance and monitoring are critical in advancing sustainable tourism, or ecotourism, on a global level. To ensure appropriate monitoring of new forms of tourism and their potential impacts, we need additional resources to study tourism activities in new sectors as they are developed and implemented.

The sole owner, shareholder and stakeholder of social enterprise PacWhale Eco-Adventures, which has been providing eco-friendly ocean tours and sustainable whale watches for over 40 years, PWF is well positioned to study the impact of ocean tourism on marine mammals and endangered species such as the Hawaiian insular population of false killer whales. In addition, we remain passionate champions of sustainability, effective conservation management strategies and conservation-led guidelines applicable to the ocean tourism industry as a whole.