Impact of whale-watching on Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) in Patagonia: assessing the effects from its beginnings in the context of population growth

ARIAS, MAGDALENA; COSCARELLA, MARIANO; ROMERO, MARIA ALEJANDRA; SVENDSEN, GUILLERMO M; OCAMPO REINALDO, MATÍAS; CURCIO, NADIA; CRESPO, ENRIQUE A; GONZÁLEZ, RAÚL A

Tourism Management Perspectives

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Año: 2018 vol. 27 p. 1 - 9

2211-9736

By 2006, Argentina had the largest number of whale watchers in Latin America and most of these came to Patagonia (Argentina). The majority of the whale-watching activities (WW) are carried out on Southern Right Whale (SRW) Eubalaena australis. The presence of whales in the northwest area of San Matías Gulf within the San Antonio Bay Marine Protected Area during winter and early spring has become frequent enough to set since 2012 an experimental program of WW tourism, designed and implemented according to the current legal framework and enforced by the Environment and Sustainable Development Secretary of the Río Negro Province. the aims of this study were to conduct a comprehensive assessment of WW activity from its inception phase in a new area of distribution of SRW, evaluating the potential effects of the activity on the colonizing groups. We provide an overview of the development and characteristics of the tourism activity from the beginning and its changes over the time, describing WW operations in SABMPA and the short-term reaction of SRW to WW vessels.