Report of the Workshop on the Scientific Aspects of Managing Whale Watching

5.8 Planning long-term studies: examples and methodology

1. continue and expand long-term studies to meet the needs of research for management of whale watching.

2. identify, review and analyze databases for their value in determining the impacts (if any) of whale watching. Fifteen long-term databases were singled out: humpback whales in the southern Gulf of Maine, USA; northern right whales [Eubalaena glacialis] in the western North Atlantic, off the US and Canada; southern right whales off Pení nsula Valdés, Argentina; killer whales [Orcinus orca] off northern Vancouver Island, Canada; southern right whales off South Africa; blue whales [Balaenopter musculus] in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada; Atlantic spotted dolphins [Stenella frontalis] in the north Bahamas; bottlenose dolphins [Tursiops truncatus] off Sarasota, Florida, USA; bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, near Monkey Mia, Australia; humpback whales at Ogasawara, Japan; killer whales in Haro Strait, Washington, USA; humpback whales in Hawaii; gray whales [Eschrichtius robustus] off the west coast of Vancouver Island; fin whales [Balaenoptera physalus] in the Ligurian Sea, off Italy and France in the Mediterranean; and sperm whales [Physeter macrocephalus] and dusk dolphins [Lagenorhynchus obscurus] near Kaikoura, New Zealand.

3. incorporate databases from other disciplines, where possible using Geographic information System (GIS) in considering the significance of long-term databases from whales and associated whale- watching data.

4. measure the parameters indicated below before and after whale watching begins by encouraging the development of research in pristine areas and in areas closed to whale watching. In some cases this may entail the prohibition of whale watching during the establishment of baseline data.

5. recognise that the power of long-term investigations is strengthened through coordination with th short-term experimental studies.

6. consider approaches similar to those used by epidemiologists to determine the principal impacts of whale watching.

7. investigate the potential for conducting comparative long-term studies of fully characterised comparable areas (pristine and potentially impacted). Protected areas provide control situations for comparisons with places where human activities may change the distribution, behaviour or other characteristics of whales. Because long-term impacts are difficult to assess, protected areas of sufficient size to have meaningful biological significance should be designated for situations where depleted whale populations may need protection from any form of potential human impact. One example proposed as a marine protected area, the Ligurian Sea, could be managed to provide some areas for whale watching and a large core area which could remain pristine as a valuable control. Another research possibility is a comparison of the two areas of Golfos San José and Nuevo, Peninsula Vaidés, Argentina.

In the development of new long-term studies and the re-design of existing studies the following parameters should be considered:

• dentification of individual cetaceans
• index of "whale-watchedness"
• whale watching effort
• distribution and occurrence of cetaceans
• measures of vital characteristics (reproduction, fitness, mortality)
• activity budget (resting, moving, socialising, feeding, vocalising, dive pattern).
• distribution, occurrence and partitioning of prey
• oceanographic data
• ambient noise

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