Whale Watching, our evolution from Whaling

Since the end of Australia’s whaling industry in 1978, the Australian Government has now made the protection and conservation of whales one of their main priorities. This protection is very much needed, as whales are still being threatened by human activities such aspollution, degradation of their habitat and the placement of driftnets.

Whaling history

Whales used to be killed for their so called ‘blubber’, a thick layer of fat that was made into oil for lamp fuel, candles and as a base for perfume and soap. Whalebone, called Baleen, was used to make corsets, whips and umbrellas. People used harpoons to shoot the whales, after which they tied the whales behind the boat and brought them to the whaling stations.

Now, Australia is one of the world leaders when it comes to the protection of whales. It is an offence to kill or injure any whales or dolphins withinThe Australian Whale Sanctuary (three nautical mile state waters limit out to the boundary of the Exclusive Economic Zone, i.e. out to 200 nautical miles and further in some places).

In 1982, the International Whaling Commission established a moratorium on commercial whaling. Since the introduction of the moratorium in 1986, the whaling population has begun to recover.

Even though Australia’s whaling industry has come to an end, there are still some countries that are pro-whaling, like Iceland, Norway and Japan for example. They claim, though no proof exists, that the hunting is necessary for the management of whale stocks and scientific studies.

There are still several other threats to whales. Think about the marine pollution and drift nets for example. Driftnets are being used to catch mainly tuna and squid, but unfortunately other animals like whales, turtles, sea birds, seals and dolphins often get trapped in the nets. This is called ‘by-catch’. Most of the animals who get caught in the nets are not able to free themselves and die.

Whale Watching

Finally, people discovered a way of making money from the whales without harming them: by watching them! Whale-watching cruises are becoming more and more popular, they are a true tourist attraction in areas such as Hawaii, New-Zealand and Australia. For some reason people really enjoy seeing these animals jumping out of the water.

Whale watching goes not without rules though. You have to be really careful coming into their territory, you do not want to disturb them. It is absolutely forbidden to touch or feed them and you have to keep a safe distance. You are not allowed to go into the water when there are whales around.

However, if you go on a whale watching cruise you can perfectly see and enjoy the animals. You are most likely to see humpback whales and bottle-nose dolphins. If you want to try and identify the whales, you can look at multiple things like the shape of the blow or the flippers for example. Every whale has its own characteristics.

Whale watching remains a great outdoor activity, whales just seem to have that ability to make people happy!

Check out this amazing video of a humpback being saved.

How to identify Whales when whale watching

Illustrations by Tony Pyrzakowski, © Commonwealth of Australia 1989

Breaching Humpback Whale Photograph (top) by NOAA's National Ocean Service via Flickr Creative Commons