Whale watching - the future?

Posted by Irene at 1:34 PM, June 16, 2005

Over the past decade whale watching has shown a potential to become far more profitable than whaling ever was. Worldwide, an estimated nine million people go whale watching every year in 87 countries. This number has increased on average by 12% annually since 1991, and looks set to rise. It is a billion dollar industry. 34 of the 40 member countries (85%) of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) now have a domestic whale watching industry.

Ironically, the most explosive growth has been in Iceland, which has experienced 250% annual growth since 1994, making the industry far more valuable to the Icelandic economy than commercial whaling ever was. Tourism has become one of the major sources of income in Iceland in recent years. Whale watching attracts around 82,000 tourists yearly and is worth more than $18 million USD a year to the Icelandic economy.

Even the figures for Norway and Japan, the two greatest advocates of commercial whaling, show a growth rate far above the average. Whale watching in Norway has grown 18% per year since 1994, earning an annual revenue of $12 million, while in 1998 102,785 people went whale and dolphin watching in Japan, spending an estimated US$33 million.

Under it's charter, the IWC must ensure the "optimum utilization" of whale stocks - more and more of the IWC's member nations promote whale watching not hunting, as the best way to do this. Australia and Brazil even pushed for sanctuaries in the South Pacific and Atlantic oceans at the 1998 conference. However, the move was defeated because the Japanese government had already "bought out" other member states votes.

The IWC is uniquely placed to address environmental threats like contamination and pollution to the world's whales. It must begin to work as an international whale commission and put whaling in the past.