Can whale-watching and whaling co-exist? Tourist perceptions in Iceland

Abstract

Both whaling and whale-watching tourism occur in Iceland, but these activities are considered incompatible by many, and previous studies have suggested that whale-watch tourists would boycott whale-watch destinations where whaling takes place. This study assessed the perceptions of and attitudes towards ongoing whaling amongst whale-watch tourists in Iceland. A majority of whale-watching tourists in Iceland did not support whaling and did not think that whale-watching and whaling could exist side by side. However, 31% of respondents were unaware of Iceland's whaling before their visit and most of these indicated that prior knowledge of whaling activities would not have affected their choice of destination. More tourists had tried whale meat than either puffin or guillemot meat, suggesting that whale meat may be more strongly marketed to tourists visiting Iceland. These results suggest that not all tourists would consider boycotting travel to a whaling nation. The whale-watch industry is important to Iceland's economy, but given that the whaling industry can potentially negatively impact upon whale-watching activities, a careful analysis of the compatibility of these two industries is recommended. © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2014

A contingent valuation approach to estimating the recreational value of commercial whale watching – the case study of Faxaflói Bay, Iceland

“…Most empirical studies have determined that whaling and whale watching are perceived as being either incompatible activities or the former has a severely detrimental impact on the latter ( Hoyt & Hvenegaard, 2002 ; Kuo, Chen, & McAleer, 2012 ). This was also the finding of the survey-based study by Bertulli et al (2016) focused on Faxaflói Bay, which found that most tourists did not think whaling and whale watching could exist side by side, a finding which again has potential marine spatial planning implications with regards to the size and scope of the Faxaflói Bay whale sanctuary.…”

“…For many centuries, Faxaflói Bay's abundant fishing resources have provided important sustenance and income-generators for the people living on its coastline. In addition, a broad variety of wildlife is present in the Bay, including minke, humpback and fin whales ( Bertulli, Rasmussen, & Tetley, 2013 ), dolphins, harbour porpoises ( Rasmussen & Miller, 2002 ), and puffins ( Bertulli et al, 2016 ). Today, a broad array of economic activities continues to take place in Faxaflói Bay, including fishing, shipping, cruise ship tourism, sailing, whale watching and commercial whaling.…”

“…The choice of case study reflects the considerable growth in Iceland of the tourism industry in general, which has corresponded with burgeoning whale watching industry in Reykjavík, the capital city of Iceland located on the shores of Faxaflói Bay. Moreover, Faxaflói Bay has also been the focus of heated debate in Iceland concerning the respective merits and trade-offs of commercial whaling and whale watching ( Bertulli, Leeney, Barreau, & Matassa, 2016 ; Iceland Magazine, 2019 ; Malinauskaite, Cook, Davíðsdóttir, & Ögmundardóttir, 2020 ), with both industries active during the summer. Most recently, Faxaflói Bay was the focus of a contingent valuation study estimating WTP for ecolabels linked to sustainable boating for whale watching ( Lissner & Mayer, 2020 ).…”

Socio-cultural valuation of whale ecosystem services in Skjálfandi Bay, Iceland

“…A monetary ES valuation study on the trade-offs between cultural and provisioning whale ES in Iceland found that women were willing to pay more for the expansion of a sanctuary that would limit whaling in the area, as were respondents with higher education (Malinauskaite et al, 2020b). Visitors valued whale meat more than locals, which might be associated with its marketing as a traditional Icelandic food (Bertulli et al, 2016;Huijbens & Einarsson, 2018) and the absence of whaling in the area.…”

“…There are also possible trade-offs between provisioning and recreational ES in Iceland, as observed by Cook et al (2020) and Bertulli et al (2016). Another trade-off within ES is related to unregulated whale watching and the ES of recreation and tourism.…”