Filming whale watchers

With our first film now in the final stages of editing, we have started working on two others. This morning we were out on a whale watching excursion for a film about the whale watching industry and its potential to protect marine mammals. The whale watching industry has its supporters and its critics. Many believe that whale watching has an educational role for the general public, and that it creates a body of public opinion which can help in protecting dolphins and whales. Others believe that the boats disturb the animals, in some places to such an extent that they even leave the area or are unable to feed or reproduce. Worldwide it is a multi-million dollar industry, on which hundreds of thousands of people depend for their livelihood.

With the exception of the whaling industry, dolphins and whales are protected species all over the world. There are guidelines and recommendations at international level concerning ethical whale watching practices, and every country has its own laws. The Canary Islands, and Tenerife in particular, are blessed with its resident and migrant dolphins and whales. Millions of visitors to Tenerife go whale watching, and this has become a major income generator. There are whale watching operations in three locations in Tenerife: Puerto Colón, Los Cristianos and Los Gigantes.

A major income generator

We were aboard the catamaran, Freebird One, to film a TUI excursion. The Freebird One is one of the largest whale watching vessels operating out of Puerto Colón, and on today’s excursion there were 120 guests on board. Apart from the whale watching company itself, associated services included transport (guests to and from the hotels), catering, video and photo companies for momentos of the trip, and souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants in the harbour. The income generated by the Freebird One alone is significant, and  apart from this catamaran, there are five or six other whale watching vessels of varying sizes in Puerto Colon.

Among the crew on this excursion was our friend biologist Volker Boehlke, hired by TUI to be the guide for the excursion. He was there to welcome guests and give them general information about the animals they were seeing. He had informative posters and booklets with him, and held a question and answer session. While there was definitely a number of interested guests, many others simply wanted to enjoy the trip itself, without wanting to learn any more than passing information about the dolphins and whales.

Given the freedom of the vessel and access to all staff, I went to the cockpit at the top of the catamaran to have a chat with Capitán Luís. He has been at sea for more than 30 years and still loves it. The last few years have been with the Freebird One, primarily doing whale watching trips. Even though he sometimes makes three trips a day to see the dolphins and whales, he still enjoys the work and the challenge of finding cetaceans and approaching them carefully so that the guests can enjoy them to the full. He can’t imagine doing anything else. In answer to my questions, he told me that he and one other crew member had done a course run by the Ministry of the Environment to learn how best to conduct whale watching operations. His admiration for sea-life was clear, as was his dislike at how most of the other vessels operate.

A positive impression

This was our first time on a whale watching trip, and luckily we were left with a positive impression. The guests enjoyed the trip, and many of them learned more about the cetaceans and will take that home with them. And best of all, Capitán Luís was careful to approach the dolphins and whales quietly without stressing them. As a result they stayed with the boat for a long time and the guests could enjoy seeing them.