Tonga’s multi-million pa'anga whale watching and swimming tourist attraction is challenged by the findings of a new study by the Auckland University of Technology.

The study, which highlights avoidance responses from humpback whales, in particular mother-calf pairs, expresses concern over the impact of this popular tourist activity on the Oceania humpback whales. It  calls for further investigation and local management action, after observing low levels of operator compliance with some regulations.

“Effective strategies to reduce the risk of detrimental effects on the whales targeted by swimming activities, especially mother-calf pairs, are needed,” stated the authors.

Their study found that the whale watching operations were not observing the required minimum resting time for whales between interactions with vessels. Avoidance responses of whales towards tour vessels were observed for one third of vessel approaches

“The Tongan government allows tourist swimming activities with whales and tour operators strongly promote the practice of swimming-with-whales, focusing primarily on mother-calf pairs.”

But drone footage in the study has shown that mother whales dive deeper to avoid tour boats and are separated from their newborn calves when tour boats are around.

“Evidence from other studies on the effects of cetacean based tourism suggests that the findings from our study in Vava‘u should be cause for concern,” stated the authors. (Effects of whale-based tourism in Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga: Behavioural responses of humpback whales to vessel and swimming tourism activities, published in the scientific journal PLOSOne [2]).

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism responded to the report on 18 July with a statement that as one of the leading whale watching and swimming destinations in the region they were committed to responsible whale watching.  “We are working hand in hand with Professor Mark Orams of AUT as well as Mr Michael Donoghue (South Pacific Whale Research Consortium) in providing sound advice on the protection of the whales when required.”

Tonga humpbacks

Whale Watching in Tonga started in the early 1980’s after King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV prohibited whaling in 1978. (Between 1911 and 1963 the Tonga whales population had dropped from a pre-whaling peak of 10,000 to less than 250 individuals as a result of the whaling industry. The exact number of Tonga whales today is not known but an estimated 1000 whales are still making the 6000 km round trip from Antartica to Vava‘u.)

The AUT study noted that the whale population has not recovered to the levels that might have been expected.

“The Tongan sub-population of humpback whales still shows little evidence of recovery after the cessation of whaling, in contrast to other regions such as the East and West coasts of Australia,” the authors reported.

Tourism

The sheltered waters of the Vava‘u island group are an important calving ground for these Oceania humpback whales, which has been called the "Tongan Tribe". The humpbacks spend the months of July to October in Tonga to give birth before travelling back to Antarctica for the summer. Many thousands of tourists visit Tonga during the whale season, bringing at least $10 million annually into the local economy.

Teisa Tupou, the Principal Tourism Officer for Tonga told Matangi Tonga that a Whale Watching and Swimming Act 2008 and Whale Watching Regulations 2013 are already in place for Tongan waters

But enforcement of the Act and the Regulations is the missing link, according to Teisa, because the Ministry does not have adequate resources to implement everything it needs to do.

After documenting issues on management of operators, the Ministry launched its first enforcement programme in 2017 at the wharves in Vava‘u and Tongatapu. Teisa said that since 2018 this was extended to Ha‘apai and ‘Eua and in partnership with Tonga Police they were conducting weekly in-water enforcement operations.

They were also enforcing that operators were out for no more than seven hours a day.

Currently there are 39 licensed Whale Watching and Swimming operators in Tonga, with 21 in Vava‘u, eight in Ha‘apai, seven in Tongatapu and three in ‘Eua.

She said that for the first time, this year one operator had his license cancelled.

Teisa admitted that that even though they have the Act and the Regulation to control Whale Watching and Swimming with the whales, they still lacked the financial resources to be in full control of the operation. She said that they should have an observer on each vessel, but they can’t afford it, neither can they afford to have Global Positioning System GPS units to monitor the activities.

However, on the progress side, Teisa said that the Ministry this year enforced that each operator must have a Certified Skipper and Guide.

Operating vessels pay up to $4082.50 for a whale watching and swimming licence, with annual renewal fees of up to $2645.

References:

Effects of whale-based tourism in Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga: Behavioural responses of humpback whales to vessel and swimming tourism activities [3]. The research was conducted by Lorenzo Fiori, Emmanuelle Martinez, Mark B. Orams and Barbara Bollard.