Biodiversity, Economy & Trade, Environment, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, Tierramerica

ARGENTINA: A Livelihood from Whales – Without Hunting

Marcela Valente* - Tierramérica

BUENOS AIRES, Jul 19 2010 (IPS) - If you want to observe the charismatic southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), the most popular place to do so is off Argentina’s Valdés Peninsula, an enclave on the Atlantic coast that relies on tourist dollars — and therefore opposes whale hunting.

From May to December, about a thousand of these whales gather in the Argentine waters to reproduce. Located in the southern province of Chubut, the peninsula is a protected natural area and, in 1999, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) declared it a Natural Heritage of Humanity site.

The southern right whale reaches about 15 metres in length and weighs approximately 60 tonnes. The females of this baleen species are larger than the males, and produce one offspring at a time, every two to three years.

These giant mammals can be seen from shore or out at sea, on tours that are regulated to protect the animals and their habitat.

Whale watching is “making a vital socioeconomic contribution” to hundreds of communities, according to the report “State of Whale Watching in Latin America,” published in 2008 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Global Ocean, and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

This activity, which didn’t exist in the region 40 years ago, has been growing 11.3 percent annually since 1998 — three times faster than international tourism, state the authors, Erich Hoyt and Miguel Iñíguez.

Whale watching tourists this year will total more than 1.4 million in 18 countries in Latin America. The Valdés Peninsula is the most visited location, attracting more than 240,000 people per year.

Next in line is Brazil, where southern right whales can also be found, followed by Mexico, where other whale species are the attraction. Since 1998, some 6.4 million people have taken a whale watching tour somewhere in the region.

Argentina is the leader, says the report, and is one of the seven most advanced countries in terms of regulations.

“I started in 1970, and over the years we’ve participated in workshops with biologists and environmentalists to come up with a guide for how to approach the whales without frightening them,” tour operator Peke Sosa told Tierramérica.

With advice from experts, the “Patagonian Whale Watching Technique” was created.

The tour should last no more than 90 minutes, with a half-hour between the departure of each boat, which should not travel faster than 10 knots (18 kilometres per hour), and should slow to five knots when near a whale.

Tours cannot approach mothers with their calves until after Aug. 31, and boats must not interfere with mother whales and their offspring or with mating whales, and must maintain a distance of 50 metres from the animals when they leap — known as breaching or lunging — out of the water.

Tourists are asked not to throw garbage overboard, not to shout and not to try to touch the whales. “The whales are curious and sociable,” but must not be harassed, said Sosa.

The Patagonia Technique and the Best Practices Code for Whale Watching were formalised in a 2007 law and a 2008 decree.

The rules state a maximum of six companies operating in the area, with one boat each at a time, and a maximum capacity of 70 passengers. The vessels should be silent, with engines that do not run on oil, in order to prevent pollution.

“It’s important that it be done in a responsible way,” Roxana Schteinbarg, of the Buenos Aires-based Whale Conservation Institute (ICB, Institute de Conservación de Ballenas).

Furthermore, regulations call for studies of the whales’ reaction to the tour boats.

Schteinbarg noted that the whale watching legislation was created with the participation of non-governmental organisations like the ICB, as well as tour operators, scientists and officials, but stressed that “the success or failure of the standards depends on appropriate oversight.”

“Each passenger must be aware of the regulations and commit to obeying them,” she said. To assist in that effort, the ICB produced a pamphlet in Spanish and English to distribute to the tourists.

“The limit is set by the number of authorised tour operators and the number of boats,” said Natalia Leske, director of protected areas for the Chubut province’s Ministry of Tourism.

Monitoring the activity is the responsibility of the Patagonia Nature Foundation, which recommends patience in approaching the whales, and not to pursue them if they appear hesitant.

The whale watching industry in Argentina totalled 62 million dollars in 2006, according to Hoyt and Iñíguez’s study.

At the last meeting of the International Whaling Commission, held Jun. 21-25 in Morocco, the Latin America whale watching operators presented a statement against allowing whale hunting. However, negotiations to phase out whaling collapsed.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)