Dolphin-watching tour boats change bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) behaviour

Constantine, Rochelle; Brunton, Dianne H.; Dennis, Todd E.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2003.12.009

Cited by 313 publications

(301 citation statements)

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“…Elsewhere, variability in disturbance response has been linked to various characteristics of targeted dolphins (e.g. sex: Williams et al 2002;Lusseau 2003;age: Constantine 2001; group size: Constantine et al 2004); however, we found no differences between sites in the age/sex composition or size of focal dolphin groups. Thus, site-specific differences in behavioural response were probably due to differences in exposure to vessels by dolphins residing in each area.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 63%

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Interpreting short-term behavioural responses to disturbance within a longitudinal perspective

et al. 2006

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We documented immediate, behavioural responses of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) to experimental vessel approaches in regions of high and low vessel traffic in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Experimental vessel approaches elicited significant changes in the behaviour of targeted dolphins when compared with their behaviour before and after approaches. During approaches, focal dolphin groups became more compact, had higher rates of change in membership and had more erratic speeds and directions of travel. Dolphins in the region of low vessel traffic (control site) had stronger and longer-lasting responses than did dolphins in the region of high vessel traffic (impact site). In the absence of additional information, the moderated behavioural responses of impact-site dolphins probably would be interpreted to mean that long-term vessel activity within a region of tourism had no detrimental effect on resident dolphins. However, another study showed that dolphin-watching tourism in Shark Bay has contributed to a long-term decline in dolphin abundance within the impact site (Bejder et al., in press, Conservation Biology). Those findings suggest that we documented moderated responses not because impact-site dolphins had become habituated to vessels but because those individuals that were sensitive to vessel disturbance left the region before our study began. This reinterpretation of our findings led us to question the traditional premise that short-term behavioural responses are sufficient indicators of impacts of anthropogenic disturbance on wildlife.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 63%

“…Assessments of effects of cetacean-watching tourism typically focus on short-term responses (e.g. Bejder et al 1999;Williams et al 2002;Lusseau 2003;Constantine et al 2004;Samuels & Bejder 2004), the biological significance of which is seldom known (Corkeron 2004).…”

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confidence: 99%

Interpreting short-term behavioural responses to disturbance within a longitudinal perspective

et al. 2006

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“…Walther 1969;Born et al 1999;Frid 2001;Blumstein et al 2003;Constantine et al 2004). Whether disturbance affects a population, and how severe this effect is, relies on the impact of the disturbance that can be measured as behavioural responses of the targeted species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These human-animal interactions are based on an overlap of the animals' habitat and the anthropogenic use of the same area, such as for tourism, or recreational and commercial fisheries (e.g. Constantine et al 2004;Bearzi et al 2006;Miller et al 2008). Cetacean-based tourism is one of these growing potential threats and has resulted in increased exposure of dolphin and whale populations to high levels of boat traffic and disturbance (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distance does matter: close approaches by boats impede feeding and resting behaviour of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins

2011

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Context. Potential impacts of human disturbance on animal populations can be measured as behavioural responses and may affect the survival and fecundity of animals. In areas where human-wildlife interactions occur, conservation management needs to be in place to secure both a viable tourism industry and the sustainability of the targeted species.Aims. We sought to evaluate whether different approach distances by boat have effects on the behaviour and group cohesion of dolphins that are targeted by Australia's largest dolphin-watching industry.Methods. The effects of different approach distances of boats on the behavioural states of dolphins, group dispersal and direction of movement were investigated in this area by controlled boat experiments conducted between August 2008 and December 2009.Key results. Results showed that there was significantly less feeding when boats approached dolphin groups to a distance of 50 m than when they did to a distance of 150 m, or with controlled approaches. Resting was also observed significantly less when boats approached to a distance of 50 m than when they approached to a distance of 150 m. The dispersal of dolphin groups was significantly tighter (less dispersed) when boats approached to 50 m than that with 150-m-distance or controlled approaches. Furthermore, the dolphins' direction of movement was less neutral when the experimental boat approaches were carried out at a distance of 50 m than when they were carried out at a distance of 150 m, or with controlled approaches. Similar results were also obtained for dolphin groups including calves.Conclusions. On the basis of the results from this study, we recommend that the existing New South Wales regulations, which stipulate that dolphin-watching boats keep a distance of 50 m to groups with adults only and 150 m to groups with calves, are maintained within the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park (PSGLMP).Implications. Management plans whose stated goals include both sustainability of a dolphin-watching industry and longer-term viability of a dolphin population may reconcile conflicting objectives and improve their decision making by using these empirical measures rather than best guesses.

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“…Although research has shown that certain wildlife species can habituate to the regular presence of humans (Young, 1998), there is concern that whale-watching might be detrimental to the target species, potentially causing it injuries and death by collisions with boats or yet behavioural changes because of the intensity, noise and conduct of boat traffic (e.g. Constantine, Brunto and Dennis, 2004;Hoyt, 2005;Lusseau and Higham, 2004;Scarpaci and Parsons, 2012). The introduction of regulating guidelines is a method commonly used to mitigate this impact (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

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

Silva

2013

Current Issues in Tourism

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Whale-watching is one of the fastest growing tourism industries worldwide, often viewed as a sustainable, non-consumptive strategy for the benefits of cetacean conservation and the coastal communities, alternative to and incompatible with whaling. Yet there is paucity of research on how things actually work out at the community-level. Drawing on research literature and my own ethnographic fieldwork, this article bridges a knowledge gap in this field while examining an Azorean context where tourism has brought a re-commodification of the whale for the community (observing wildlife as opposed to harpooning it) in the last 20 years. The analysis is focused on the four main community-level implications: governance of common maritime resources, and tourism's contribution to economic sustainability, cultural identity and social relations. It is shown that whale-watching, as any other form of community-based ecotourism, is not a panacea that always promotes biodiversity conservation and economic and sociocultural sustainability for the host communities. Moreover, expanding on the theorisation of emerging institutional fields by Lawrence and Phillips, the political, historical, economic and sociocultural context of the community involved is a key factor for understanding local agency and the local specific features of new fields.

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Dolphin-watching tour boats change bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) behaviour

Cited by 313 publications

References 41 publications

Interpreting short-term behavioural responses to disturbance within a longitudinal perspective

Interpreting short-term behavioural responses to disturbance within a longitudinal perspective

Distance does matter: close approaches by boats impede feeding and resting behaviour of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins

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

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