Abstract
Whale watching can be a valuable economic activity in coastal communities, and provide incentives to protect cetaceans. However, it also has negative impacts on cetacean populations, so it is necessary plan for this industry in areas where the economic benefits are higher relative to the environmental costs, and can provide higher incentives for cetacean conservation. An ordinary least squares regression was carried out on country-level data for the Caribbean in order to determine what country characteristics are associated with whale-watching expenditures. The results suggest that small to medium-scale tourism development likely has the most beneficial relationship with the whale-watching industry. A complex relationship with cetacean conservation was apparent in the analysis due to positive associations of expenditure with efforts to protect cetaceans from whale-watching harassment, but a negative association with the international agreements necessary to manage free-range marine species.
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