Whale watching in Patagonia: what regulation scheme should be implemented when the socio-ecological system is changing?

CRESPO, ENRIQUE ALBERTO; CHALCOBSKY, BÁRBARA AILÉN; COSCARELLA, MARIANO ALBERTO

Bled

Encuentro; 66°b ANNUAL MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL WHALING COMMISSION; 2016

IWC

Whale watching began informally at Península Valdés in 1973 targeting southern right whales Eubalaena australis. Since the early 1970s the number of people sailing out on whale-watch tours increased from several tourists a year to more than 100,000 in 2014. In this paper we analyze the fluctuations in the number of passengers examining the regulations, the biological changes and the socio-economic factors that influenced the development of the activity. We detected four periods in the history of the whale watching in Peninsula Valdés. These periods respond international events and some are related to domestic affairs. We also analyzed the development of the regulations and the relations with these events. We concluded that although the regulation scheme is proper, there are some aspects that can be improved by making the rules easier to be changed, allowing an adaptive management approach. We analyzed as a study case the prohibition of watching mothers with newborns before August 31st every year, and the problems the captains face to comply with this regulation due to the changes in the biological system.