WDCS Fieldwork Blog

In 2006, governments from the Pacific Islands Region made some very strong steps towards protecting whales and dolphins by establishing the Convention of Migratory Species Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (CMS Pacific Cetaceans MoU). This is one of only three CMS agreements dedicated specifically to cetaceans in the world – and is by far the largest in size. What makes the progress of this agreement more laudable is that knowledge of cetacean diversity, threats and habitat is relatively low in this region (with a majority of cetacean species being considered ‘Data Deficient’ by the IUCN) and furthermore that there is a limited amount of resources available by many of the governments in this region. Hence, the purpose and motivation for this agreement is proactive and risk averse for real conservation gains.
A recent paper we wrote
[http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13880292.2013.764775]
outlines the initiation and development of the CMS Pacific Cetaceans MoU.



We also look at the strengths, challenges and proposed next steps for the agreement while emphasizing the importance of ongoing support, strong national engagement, and effective collaboration and synergy in order to ensure the long-term goals and objectives of this agreement are met.
For additional details on this initiative please see www.pacificcetaceans.org

Vanessa Williams-Grey continues to Wow us with the amazing whales and dolphins of Sri Lanka, in this her second blog of Sri Lankan whale watching. Be sure to check her introduction to the whale watching community as well.

Saturday 2^nd March: Another blazing hot day. We spent 8 hours at sea, again traveling far inside the shipping lanes as these deep waters also contain nutrient-rich upwellings and so quite naturally attract the whales to feed here. It was quite sobering to be aboard a small boat, maybe 12-15 nautical miles from land, and watch massive container ships transiting these waters at some speed. We felt quite vulnerable and were grateful for the skill of our skipper but it was easy to appreciate that the largest creature on Earth is also vulnerable in the face of these giant vessels. Tragically, both blue whales and sperm whales are struck with shocking regularity.

Sightings today included 6 blue whales, a Bryde’s whale, another large pod of spinners (100-200), plus smaller numbers of bottlenose dolphins and Risso’s (this latter species is also known locally as a ‘dragon dolphin’ and was pointed out thus by our skipper). Today’s ‘souvenir’ was an old water bottle filled with bright red blue whale poo, collected for later analysis by our naturalist, Anoma!

Sunday 3^rd March: More blue whales - at least 5 and as many as ten, all within the shipping lanes - plus many more dolphins. Some locals have expressed the belief that the whale watch boats need to travel further to find the whales than they did a year or so ago and this is cited by some as evidence that the whales have been displaced offshore and forced to move further into the shipping lanes. Others contend that the whales have always been found there: either way, the presence of endangered whales – and whale watch boats full of passengers – within some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes surely flags up the need for great care to be taken to ensure the safety of all concerned.

Monday 4^th March: An early visit from 5 exuberant bottlenose dolphins whetted everyone’s appetite but a sightings lull seemed never ending as eyes strained over a stubbornly whale-less sea. Just as we were starting to feel a little despondent, the noisy exhalation of a blue whale pierced the sea mist and the next hour was spent in the company of half a dozen blue whales, rising and falling lazily about 100 m off our vessel.

As if to apologise for the delay in proceedings, around 200 spinners leapt and twirled as a finale as the boat headed back to port, escorted much of the way by flying fish.

Back ashore and time for reflection and further discussions with the local community. These waters are clearly teeming with whales and dolphins - and whale watching here has undoubtedly improved in the past year or so - but there is still much to be done in order to raise standards across the board and reduce the discrepancy between operators. WDC has long encouraged community-based whale watching in different parts of the world and here at Mirissa, whale watching has offered a beacon of hope to a village devastated by the 2004 tsunami. This tiny community has proved its resilience and, time and again, we heard a real willingness to do the right thing. We’ve been invited to run training workshops for operators and naturalist guides, advise on outreach to tourists, and develop educational resources to add value to trips. We will also input to initiatives to reduce ship strikes in the region. I feel very positive about the future of whale watching here. Our message is a simple one: look after your whales and they will look after you.

In this, the second part of the Elding blog, María Björk Gunnarsdóttir looks at the challenges faced by a whale watching operator working in the same bay as the whalers. In fact, the whale watch boats are moored alongside the fin whaling fleet in the Old Harbour in Reykjavik. I think one of the facts I was most disgusted by is that the minke whalers take just 11-20% of the whale meat and discard most of the carcass while still at sea. There are hundreds of rotting minke whale carcasses on the seabed in Faxafloi Bay - what this must sound and 'feel' like to the intelligent, sentient whales that survived the harpoon must be unbearable.

Maria takes up the whaling vs. whale watch story here.

It comes as no surprise that Iceland is considered one of the top whale watching destinations in Europe. The rich feeding grounds surrounding Iceland have attracted whales for centuries and the conditions for viewing them are excellent. Thinking back in time it makes perfect sense as to why foreign, and later Icelandic whalers, sought out the resources in these waters. What does come as a surprise, however is that still today, in the 21st century, whaling continues to take place in these waters, and, what is more, in the same area that tens of thousands of tourists go whale watching every year.

In 2003 our hopes that whale watching would eventually replace all urges for whaling in the Icelandic community were dashed. The Icelandic government introduced a four-year scientific whaling scheme resulting in the deaths of 200 minke whales. The scientific whaling lead to the resumption of commercial whaling in 2006 and from then on well over 300 Minke Whales and close to 300 fin whales have been killed.

During this time tourism in Iceland has grown exponentially and so too has whale watching alongside. Last year alone, over 170,000 passengers went whale watching, that’s around one third of all visitors to Iceland. What is surprising though, is these tourists are keeping the whaling industry afloat due to the amount of whale meat bought in restaurants and supermarkets. A poll conducted by IFAW in 2010 concluded that only 5% of Icelandic’s eat whale meat regularly.



It is fascinating to see these two contrasting industries rising together. However, by digging deeper the whale watching operators have voiced their concerns as their statistics indicate declining sightings and poorer quality of the tours, which naturally can have dramatic long-term effects on whale watching in Iceland if it continues.

Even though whaling has very limited support internationally, Icelanders have proven supportive of this industry over the years. The most likely explanation for this support is to be found in a political discourse. The Icelandic government emphasises its sovereign right to determine the exploitation of all resources within Icelandic territorial waters, usually referred to as “their resources”. Catching whales has therefore been seen more or less the same as catching fish.

Following the resumption of whaling the whalers also embraced the idea of increased exports, revenue and employment for the Icelanders while ignoring CITES regulations on the ban of trading in whale products. This emphasis on economic benefits proved an effective way to garner the public’s support during the economic recession in Iceland following the bank crisis in 2008. The opponents of whaling doubted the real economic benefits of the industry from the start. Their emphasis has been on presenting whale watching as the only sustainable use of these resources.

With the passing years more and more Icelanders are seeing the big picture and slowly the attitudes are changing. Icelanders are now seeing that whaling is not only morally wrong, it is damaging for whale watching industry and also messy, unsustainable and bad for the image of Iceland.

What can you do to help:

Come to Iceland and go whale watching. By going out on a boat you are helping us demonstrate that whale watching is more beneficial than whaling.

Don’t eat whale meat!

Voice your concern!
- Let restaurant owners know that you don’t like the fact that they serve whale meat or better yet let them know that you are not eating there because they serve whale meat.
- Send a letter / e-mail to the Icelandic government
- Send a letter / e-mail to the Icelandic Tourist Board

Avoid Icelandic fish products from HB Grandi (fish supplied by Icelandic whalers)

Support anti-whaling campaigns

Vanessa Williams-Grey, WDC's responsible whale watching lead, is currently in Sri Lanka working with the country's burgeoning whale watching industry. Here we follow her travels and her work to put best practices into place. 

Believe me, I’m as surprised as anyone to find myself writing about blue whales from what can only be described as possibly the best ‘outdoor office’ in the world. I’ve rigged up my laptop so that I can sit, swinging precariously - and thus typing equally precariously - from a hammock slung between two palm trees, barely metres from the ocean. My ears are full of the sound of waves crashing and the guttural squarks of birds flying from tree to tree. It’s green here, very green, and each evening, the air is heady with the scent of frangipani, whilst at dawn, stilt fishermen take up their positions perched atop impossibly flimsy-looking wooden poles in the ocean outside our villa.

Welcome to Mirissa, southern Sri Lanka. We are staying for a week as guests of Sri Lankan Airlines and their tourism partners, Jetwing Hotels and John Keells Group, as we embark on a joint project to engage with the local whale watching community and – hopefully – work together to make whale watching here as good as it possibly can be. Because, despite appearances, all has not been entirely well in Paradise.

This beautiful island is starting to recover after decades of turmoil and tourists are once more flocking here to enjoy beaches and temples, tea plantations and wildlife. But like everywhere, it can be a case of too much, too soon and this has arguably been the case for much of the wildlife tourism that has mushroomed here over the past handful of years.

Whale watching started at Mirissa only 4 years ago but demand is such that nowadays, 20-25 boats ply these waters. Whilst some operators are extremely responsible and use custom-made whale watching vessels, others have diversified from fishing and have adapted their boats to varying standards. Behaviour on the water in recent years has varied widely as well and the better operators have suffered due to the behaviour of others who have approached too fast, crowded the whales or lingered too long.

This has meant good exposure for Mirissa’s whales and dolphins, but mixed press – and sometimes downright bad reviews – for its whale watching industry. And that is a pity, because this region has the potential to offer some of the best whale watching anywhere in the world. For a start, it can count both blue and sperm whales amongst its local residents.

Sri Lanka, as a whole, can currently boast a tally of 27 cetacean species and many of these are found off Mirissa with almost indecent ease. I’ve worked for WDC for over two decades and have been lucky enough to experience whale watching in many parts of the world, but I’ve never seen a blue whale and was desperately keen to do so. I was buoyed up by reports that the sightings rate for blues off Mirissa in season (December-April) is around 90% - but in some ways, this only added to the pressure….

Our first day on the water: (March 1st)

Within an hour of leaving the harbour at Mirissa with its brightly-coloured tangle of yellow and red fishing vessels and whale watch boats and obligatory band of stray dogs, we encountered a large pod of maybe 150+ spinner dolphins, and seemingly minutes later, we were enjoying our first sighting of blue whales.

Many people report that their first encounter with a blue whale involves two things: superlatives and tears......and I was no exception. It is hard to describe the rush of sheer adrenalin and emotion as this massive, massive creature blows and then slowly surfaces, arcing lazily – and seemingly endlessly – through the water, displaying its ridiculously out-of-proportion dorsal (a short stub of a thing, perched three-quarters of the way down its immense back)

and maybe fluking up for a deeper dive. We met at least 6 different blue whales that day and maybe as many as 8, over half a dozen good encounters. One female was shadowed by a very small calf, giving credence to the belief that the whales may give birth in these waters, making them even more important. At one point, it felt like we were surrounded by blows, as there were two pairs of blue whales as well as a lone individual in the vicinity at the same time, seemingly quite relaxed around our vessel.

Vanessa spent few days on the water, we'll be following up with more amazing updates from her - so be sure and check back for more Sri Lanka whale watching.

This blog entry will be a two-parter and is written by our good friends and colleagues at Elding Whale Watching in Reykjavik. (www.elding.is).

Here, María Björk Gunnarsdóttir, introduces us to Iceland's winter whale watching opportunities.

Nowadays a lot of emphasis is being put on promoting Iceland as a whole year destination. Marketing the winters is now the main focus due to the summer months already attracting more than enough tourists each year. The winter weather however can be troublesome due to its unpredictability which is ever more interchangeable during this season. This has given a perplexed feeling to Icelanders about increasing tourism during this time of year.

A few years ago whale watching was one activity that no one could even imagine being run in winter, come to think of it, in the mid 90s whale watching in general sounded like an absurd idea to most Icelanders. The most vocal claims were simply that there weren’t any whales around in winter and comments about weather often followed. The team at Elding Whale Watching Reykjavik, with a crazy idea in their mind, proved them wrong already in 2008. Their winter tours have provided both an exciting and adventurous experience for their guests and now winter whale watching is one of the best examples of winter tourism in Iceland.

This is how the Elding team looks at the difference between whale watching in summer and winter.

The first point we would like to make is quite obvious - the weather! In general it is much colder and windier and we have unfortunately more cancellations in wintertime. Of course we do our best to make tours as comfortable and enjoyable for our guests as possible. In wintertime most of our guests stay in the heated indoor saloon on the way out to the whale watching grounds and on the way back to port. They also make good use of our warm overalls when outside watching the whales. Despite the cold, most of the tours we do are absolutely amazing and the low-lying winter sun and snow-capped mountains truly make it special.



It is not only the weather that makes these winter tours different but the cetacean species differ as well. Iceland being mainly feeding grounds there comes a time each autumn when the migrating whales leave us for the warmer waters in the south. The species that are most common in the wintertime are those feeding on the herring, which is more abundant at this time as the Norwegian stocks come together with the Icelandic stocks. Thus, the main species we see from largest to smallest are; the humpback whale, orca, white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises. Occasionally, other species are sighted as well such as; minke, blue, and fin whales which are either staying behind or on their way south.

Running the winter tours we soon discovered that being resourceful was more important than ever before. This means that we needed to keep all options open and if the weather wasn’t favourable from Reykjavík we had another boat located in a harbour on the Reykjanes peninsula. We have therefore come to good terms with the harbour masters in Hafnarfjörður, Keflavík, Sandgerði and Grindavík. Operating from these optional areas we’ve also made good contact amongst the local fishermen who know the area better than anyone. Reykjavík Old harbour is still the heart of our business, but in winter we often transport our passengers to and from these other harbours via bus at no extra cost. As a result we spend less time sailing, more time with the whales and in better conditions.



Tips for enjoying the winter whale watching tours:

Dress warmly, dress warmly, dress warmly... Hats, gloves and scarves are essential along with a warm sweater. Non-skid shoes and warm socks are also advisable and don’t be shy to put on the warm overalls provided on board. This may not be the most fashionable outfit but keeping in mind that the weather conditions along the coast are often windy with slightly colder temperatures out on the water you’ll soon discover why we encourage guests to wear them.

Do your research, the whales move freely and some days are definitely better than others. Elding writes a blog “Whale Diary” with daily updates on sightings.

Check out the weather forecast, be flexible and take the crews advice on when is the best day to go whale watching.

Bring a camera along with a plastic bag to cover it in case it rains and a pair of binoculars.

Sunglasses come in handy on bright sunny winter days as the sun is quite low on the horizon

Be open and make the most out this interesting adventure, even if you don’t manage to experience on first attempt what you had hoped for. On non-sighting and poor sighting tours Elding offers complimentary tickets for guests to come again.


Elding's winter whale watching video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGSSV9GKTok&feature=share&list=UURK1u1Z4OlJuuyIeCpqDOIw