2.5 Certification

New Zealand has a system of licensing for whale watch tour operators which includes a mandate that in order to secure a licence, the tour operation must provide the permitting authority with its education plan. The regulations state that commercial operations should have a plan of "sufficient value to participants or the public". Permits are issued by the Department of Conservation.

Tour operators state that the requirement has encouraged them to develop educational materials although the quality has not been evaluated. In reality, the tour operator can submit any sort of educational plan and then possibly abandon it in the absence of significant monitoring or updating.

In 1995 Brazil enacted a law requiring all boats and vessels operating commercial whale watching within a conservation unit - national park, sanctuary or environmental protection area - to provide passengers with educational materials. However, criteria for the type, quantity and quality of such materials has not been established.

In South Africa, all tour guides must be registered under the terms of the national Tourism Act. Categories of registration include local, regional, national or specialist guide. A "whale specialist" category has recently been Established at the community level.

In Argentina, in Chubut and Santa Cruz Provinces, provincial or local authorities license whale watch tour operators. Guides must be registered as provincial or local to be allowed to work in the area. The experience in Argentina of three-day workshops, provided by WDCS and Fundación Cethus, suggested that the best way to monitor and regulate whale watching operations would be through a multi-disciplinary group formed by NG0s, researchers, operators, provincial and local authorities of the tourism department, and the Coast Guard.

It would be valuable to get some sense of the quality of programmes in areas where there are no government regulations regarding education, compared with areas where this is required. If whale watch operations with educational components are seen as very successful, this can be as influential (and possibly more efficacious) in encouraging others to follow suit than a permit requirement.

Despite these difficulties, a framework to establish qualifications for guides and a licensing system is highly desirable. Ideally, the tour operators and guides would monitor themselves, partly as a function of competition. A combination of NGO monitoring and success in the marketplace would be more powerful than constant government interference and attention.

It is recommended that authorities assist by issuing a regulation requiring a qualified naturalist/guide on each whale watch in order to secure a permit. This sort of regulation sets a standard which could then be more easily monitored. Without such a requirement, an operator might be tempted to sacrifice a high level of educational content if threatened with competition offering bargain trips with a lower level of educational content.

An example of the problem came from the Gerry Studds Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary in Massachusetts, USA. Administrators there often get requests from the public to recommend a particular whale watching operator. This, of course, is not possible, and the client is simply sent a master list of tour operations. If a naturalist certification program were in effect, criteria would exist by which whale watchers could compare and select tour operators. A company with certified guides could also advertise and have a marketplace advantage.

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