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

4 OVERVIEW OF FACTORS AND IMPACTS ENGENDERING A NEED FOR
PROTECTIVE MEASURES
The history of IFAW’s efforts to organise a series of six workshops designed to cover all aspects of whale watching
was explained. A summary of the three completed workshops was presented, and their recommendations
discussed. Detailed reports on these workshops are available upon request from IFAW (see also Section 6.6). These
are:
• Workshop on the Scientific Aspects of Managing Whale Watching, Montecastello di Vibio, Italy,
30 March to 4 April, 1995
• Workshop on the Special Aspects of Watching Sperm Whales, Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica, 8-11
January, 1996
• Workshop on the Educational Values of Whale Watching, Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA,
8-11 May, 1997
The Workshop on the Legal Aspects of Whale Watching is the fourth of the six meetings. The fifth workshop on
"The Social and Economic Aspects of Whale Watching" was held in Kaikoura, New Zealand. The sixth will attempt to
bring together the results of all the first five workshops.
In considering the legal aspects of whale watching we must consider the possibility of both short-term and longterm
impacts on cetaceans caused by this activity. However, the Workshop on the Scientific Aspects of Managing
Whale Watching concluded that although there are observable short-term effects (behavioural changes, flight
reactions, scars from propeller strikes, etc.) there is, to date, neither conclusive scientific evidence of long-term
impacts, nor of a linkage between short-term and long-term effects. Nonetheless, it was the general view that a
precautionary approach should be adopted in managing whale watching operations, and that continuous
monitoring of the effects of whale watching on cetaceans was the key to understanding the risks and the measures
that need to be taken.
5 SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
5.1 Sanctuaries and other protected marine areas
The significance and value of special marine protected areas for the regulation of whale watching was discussed, in
particular whether they enhance the ability to adopt whale watching regulations. The implication of the use of the
term "sanctuary" was discussed. The origin of the term’s usage in relation to whales was outlined in the context of
the various agreements concluded on whaling which preceded the International Convention on the Regulation of
Whaling 1946 (ICRW). This continued the provision in previous agreements on whaling (the 1938 Protocol to the
1937 International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling), which first established a sanctuary in the Antarctic as
a place where commercial whaling was prohibited. However, when the Indian Ocean Sanctuary was established by
the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1979, one of its purposes was stated to be to provide a control area
which would allow a comparison to be made with the status of whales in other areas not protected from
exploitation. Some workshop members preferred the use of the phrases "protected area" or "special marine
protected area" in order to avoid association with religious or other connotations of the term "sanctuary." The
participants were informed that a member of the IWC’s Scientific Committee was preparing a report listing the
world’s special marine protected areas, which take a variety of legal forms.
8 Legal Aspects of Whale Watching