leagal aspects of the whale watching.pdf - International Fund for ...

7 RECOMMENDATIONS
The Workshop adjourned having created a working group of lawyers to produce an outline of the regulatory
options. These are outlined below and are based on the consensus reached after a review by the Working Group of
the discussions and conclusions outlined in earlier sections of the Report and the available materials.
Options for the Development of Legislation or Guidelines related to Whale Watching
1 General objectives and considerations
The primary objectives of guidelines and legislation regarding whale watching are to protect whales from harmful
effects and minimise disturbance of whales during this activity. Complementary objectives include the sustainable
development of the whale watching industry, educating the public and ensuring the safety of operators and the
public involved.
The options for legislation or guidelines should reflect scientific concerns and should be flexible to reflect advances
in scientific knowledge. However, a precautionary approach should be applied in deciding on the action to be taken
pursuant to the available scientific evidence (see Section 5.2).
The options selected should reflect the species, age, sex, type of behaviour (e.g. giving birth, mating, resting,
foraging, socialising, migrating), status of species, and geographic considerations within the jurisdiction. The options
for legislation or guidelines should address the potential signs of whale disturbance (for example, whales turning
away, long silences, interrupted dive sequences, shallow dives, discontinuance of mating).
Whale watching guidelines or legislation should complement other guidelines or legislation related to the marine
environment, including those on navigation, human health and safety, pollution, habitat degradation, alteration of
coastline, accidental entanglement in fishing gear and harvesting.
The development of guidelines or legislation for whale watching should be a transparent, participatory process.
There should be an educational campaign that is sufficient to create public awareness as well as a public
consultation process in which all interested parties (stakeholders) should be involved, especially any existing
commercial whale watch operators. The process of developing guidelines or legislation should include the following:
• formulation and screening of policy alternatives
• evaluation of alternatives, including consideration of long-term as well as short-term environmental and
social impacts
• selection of best practices
• identification and involvement of local resources -- human, cultural, financial, political, and commercial
interests
• considerations of physical geography
• identification and involvement of available regional, state, and federal government resources
• setting of performance measurements
• education, communication and capacity building throughout the process
• effective enforcement and compliance policy, including availability of cost effective means of execution
• follow-up evaluation (this should be planned for at the outset)
22 Legal Aspects of Whale Watching