Tourism and Research Impacts on Marine Mammals: A Bold Future Informed by Research and Technology

Abstract

Tourism and recreational activities now threaten the conservationConservation status of 21% of the marine mammalMarine mammals species recognized by the IUCN. In the past two decades, concerted efforts have been made to better understand the biological relevance of behavioral responses of marine mammals to whale-watchingWhale watching disturbanceDisturbance within theoretical frameworks. These frameworks aim to evaluate how behavioral changes caused by disturbance may result in populationPopulation effects by affecting critical life functionsLife functions, such as survivalSurvival, reproductionReproduction and feedingFeeding. Most recent efforts have made it more feasible to quantify how consequences of a disturbance can affect vital ratesVital rates and, in turn, populationPopulation level consequences. These efforts have come hand-in-hand with the advent of innovative researchResearch technologyTechnology and analytical laboratory approaches which are providing previously unobtainable data streams, including detailed information on individualIndividual body conditionBody condition, energy expenditureEnergy expenditure and energy acquisitionEnergy acquisition. Novel techniques in the fields of metabolomicsMetabolomics and endocrinologyEndocrinology are providing tools to integrate the many dimensions of disturbance-related changes in the body to derive measures of ecological healthEcological health. Lastly, new modeling techniques are now available that link changes in behavior to changes in healthHealth, vital ratesVital rates and populationPopulation dynamicsPopulation dynamics. Our chapter discusses various managementManagement approaches to the industry and highlights that it was only in 2020 that the promising concept of maximum sustainable tourismTourism yieldMaximum Sustainable Tourism Yield (MSTY) (MSTY) was explicitly stated as a management value to track when regulating and managing whale watching. The recent advances in analytical and laboratory approaches coupled with introduction of the MSTY concept provide promising pathways to both evaluate biological significant impacts of whale-watchingWhale watching and new managementManagement approaches. We argue that it is important to consider the outlook for marine mammalMarine mammals tourismTourism moving forward, with an understanding of the recent and perhaps current global tourismGlobal tourism context; i.e., the industry was paralyzed by the imposition of unprecedented border closures and travel restrictions caused by the COVID-pandemic. The focus now falls upon the potential to rebuild a new, post-COVID-19 tourismTourism system. One school of thought in rebuilding arises in response to growing concerns expressed about the global tourismGlobal tourism system prior to the pandemic. Concerns include high economic leakageEconomic leakage, environmental sustainabilityEnvironmental sustainability issues, and compromised social license driven by over-tourismOver-tourism. There is a unique opportunity to reset the tourismTourism system toward an emerging nature tourismNature tourism paradigm that encourages and supports businesses to be accountable for positive environmental, social, culturalCultural and economic outcomes. It will be necessary for marine mammal tourismTourism to embrace a paradigmatic shift from exhaustive (volume growth) to regenerative tourismTourism which, rather than depleting the natureNature upon which businesses depend, will be geared toward building natural capital over time. This will require a reconceptualization of visitor experiences, which may be augmented through new technologiesTechnology. Virtual realityVirtual Reality (VR) (VR) and augmented realityAugmented Reality (AR) (AR) are powerful tools that allow people to achieve immersive experiences of nature without the need for travel. VR/AR offer the industry opportunities to engage groups that may be constrained by physical or age-related disabilities, as well as those who may be facing travel restrictions, or confronting moral decisions associated with carbon emissionsCarbon emissions, or direct/indirect impacts arising from tourist encounters with wildWild animals. VR/AR may overcome the conundrum for close encounters with wildlife without having to expose animals repeatedly to close encounters with people. We argue that there is a pathway to move forward with a less biological impactive whale watch industry in light of the more-informed science basis available coupled with new low-impact marine mammalMarine mammals tourismTourism opportunities. But will the marine mammal tourismTourism industry continue to be fueled by a ‘business-as-usual’ approach which is based on economic prosperity? Or will the industry follow a more progressive all-encompassing approach that embraces and supports tourismTourism to be accountable for positive environmental, social, and culturalCultural, as well as economic outcomes? We argue: be creative, be bold, and be progressive.