Abstract
The interactions between wildlife tourism operators and the animals that they rely on are complex. For commercial whale watching, the recognition of the potential disturbance from the vessels generates uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of management strategies for it to remain a "no-take" practice. This warrants further evaluation. In this study, we analyzed the activities of the whale-watching fleet in Tofino, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, to evaluate industry sustainability and its ability to meet legislated conservation objectives. Visual observations gave context to an analysis of the communications of the fleet, made using very high frequency (VHF) marine radio. Transcription of these communications demonstrated three main themes: whale location, whale "transfers" between operators, and encounter or "show" quality. Cumulative encounter times from the fleet far exceeded the 30-min limit recommended in the whale-watching guidelines. Killer whales (Orcinus orca) were subject to the longest periods of vessel presence, with an average time spent in active encounters of 4.21 ±1.96 hr. This extended to almost the full operating day if whales remained within a feasible traveling distance of Tofino. Humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) encounters also exceeded the suggested time limit by 2.40 ± 1.73 hr and 1.31 ± 1.07 hr, respectively. Increased education and the addition of spatial and temporal restrictions in management regimes could address the shortcomings of the current system to minimize potential disturbance to whales from commercial whale-watching encounters and facilitate sustainable industry practices.
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