U.S. Acknowledges Whale Watching Threatens Whales

Adelaide, Australia - 4 July 2000: The proposal by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to keep whale watching vessels along Alaska’s coast at least 200 yards from humpback whales was prompted by the desire to “manage the threat to humpback whales caused by whale watching activities,” according to a notice published June 26 in the U.S. Federal Register (Vol. 65, No. 123, pages 39336 – 42).

Whale Watching and its effects are on the agenda for the 52nd Meeting of the International Whaling Commission here July 3-6.

“For years, nations and organizations opposed to the sustainable harvest of cetaceans by coastal, island and other cultures and nations with traditional ties to marine mammals and the sea have touted the benign nature of whale watching as an alternative to subsistence whaling,” said Eugene Lapointe, president of the world’s foremost sustainable use advocacy organization, IWMC – World Conservation Trust.  “This action brings their idealized claims back to reality.  Every action in nature has its consequences.  But emotion-driven groups tend to forget or ignore this basic fact of life.”

The proposed NMFS action is on the U.S. government’s wild resources conservation regulatory agenda precisely because the growing popularity of whale watching, along with the increase in boat traffic in traditional whale habitat can cause cetaceans to deviate from their normal behavior including disrupting their vitally important feeding habits.

“Among sustainable use nations, there is a place and tolerance for activities such as whale watching.  However, that same sense is lacking among those who attempt to legislate their intolerance of traditional whale hunting and consuming habits into laws whose only effect would be to push whaling cultures to the brink of extinction,” said Lapointe, who served as Secretary General for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) from 1982-1990.�