Balancing commercial and environmental needs: licensing as a means of managing whale shark tourism on Ningaloo reef

Abstract

This paper explores the creation, significance and progression of the licensing systems employed to regulate whale shark tourism at Ningaloo Marine Park. Since 1993 mandatory whale shark tour operator licences have been offered through an evolving competitive tender process. A content analysis of the evolution of licence requirements revealed a progression from a minimalist approach to one covering a full range of detailed and audited sustainability indicators. A tour operators' opinion survey was undertaken to understand industry issues and the impacts of the regulatory licensing system. Operators cited the need for business planning and offering a quality experience as their main challenges. Issues included cost pressures from local and global competitors. Few saw their own activities as being an environmental issue, and few saw regulation procedures as an issue. It is argued that further refinement of the licensing system is required to put its operations into a transparent, science-based context, and to offer incentives for improvements to rise above basic compliance. An explicit consideration of the balance between environmental regulation and commercial sustainability is needed to create a situation of perpetual improvement and provide best outcomes for all stakeholders, including operators, the local economy, the environment and guests.

Ineffectiveness of a marine sanctuary zone to protect burrunan dolphins (Tursiops australissp.nov.) from commercial tourism in Port Phillip Bay, Australia

“…It is plausible, given broad indications of unsatisfactory compliance within these industries (Allen et al, 2007;Waayers et al, 2006), that the viability of sanctuary zones in the absence of a legislative context is, therefore, questionable and highlights the need for compliance review of existing sanctuary zones. The cost of enforcement could be subsidised through the introduction of strategies such as a tourist user-pay system and/or licence fee increase; the Ningaloo Reef whale shark tourism model might provide a template for such a system (Catlin, Jones, & Jones, 2012). To support on-water enforcement, the size and design of the TBSZ is conducive to land-based surveillance, a unique circumstance that could make enforcement of the zone more resource efficient.…”

How ecotourism works at the community-level: the case of whale-watching in the Azores

“…The question scientists, policy-makers and tourism industry leaders are facing is how to determine the conditions under which whale-watching becomes harmful to the animals at stake, and how to best protect them (e.g. Catlin, Jones and Jones, 2012;Carlson, 2012;Higham and Lusseau, 2004;Parsons, 2012;Simmonds and Isaac, 2007;Steckenreuter, Harcourt and Mӧller, 2012;Visser et al, 2010). Here is evidence that the regulations which many are currently seeking to introduce may not work in communities like this, given its internal tensions.…”

Heritage designation and scale: a World Heritage case study of the Ningaloo Coast

“…Whale shark movements are both global and not well understood (Rowat and Brooks 2012, 1033-1034. Tourist experiences of whale sharks are shaped by licencing (Catlin, Jones, and Jones 2012), regulation of their interactions with humans, and by their choices in their visits to the region including their choice to stay at the surface or dive down when confronted by snorkelling tourists (Whatmore 2002). They visit the area for three months of the year in varying numbers and for variable lengths of time.…”