Q&A: Caribbean Alliance
to Protect Humpback
Whales
Interview with marine
biologist Nathalie Ward
HAVANA, (IPS) - In
December 2006, marine
mammal sanctuaries in
the Dominican Republic
and the United States
set up an alliance to
protect some 900
humpback whales. Behind
that initiative was the
tenacity of Nathalie
Ward, director of the
Eastern Caribbean
Cetacean Network (ECCN).
It was the first
endangered whale
conservation agreement
to cover the two
extremes of the giant
mammal's annual
migration, explained
marine biologist Ward,
adviser since 1989 of
the Protocol Concerning
Specially Protected
Areas and Wildlife (SPAW),
of the United Nations
Environment Programme,
and external affairs
coordinator for the
Stellwagen Bank National
Marine Sanctuary, in
Massachusetts Bay, in
the north-eastern U.S.
Ward, who holds a
doctorate in
environmental studies
and conservation
biology, will publish
her book "Whales and
Dolphins of the
Caribbean" in 2008.
IPS's Havana
correspondent Patricia
Grogg recently
interviewed her.
IPS: One of the
principal threats to sea
mammals is fishing nets,
in which they are caught
by accident and drown.
What is the incidence of
this phenomenon in the
Eastern Caribbean?
NATHALIE WARD: By-catch
has been identified as
the greatest immediate
and well-documented
threat to cetacean
populations (whales,
dolphins and porpoises)
globally.
Published information on
by-catch (accidental
capture) of marine
mammals in the Wider
Caribbean Region is
scarce, and no data
exists in the Eastern
Caribbean region, to
date. While the United
States and Mexico have
devoted efforts to the
Gulf of Mexico, there is
generally a lack of
systematic monitoring in
the Wider Caribbean,
which extends from the
Gulf of Mexico, across
the Caribbean, to the
adjacent Atlantic.
Relevant data for a
sound assessment of the
problem are also
missing, such as
abundance estimates,
mortality levels, impact
on reproductive rates.
Further, by-catch
problems are complex to
solve as they involve
economic and cultural
dimensions, particularly
in smaller developing
nations.
IPS: What strategies
have been adopted in the
Caribbean to face this
threat?
NW: Reducing by-catch
and discard of unwanted
catch as a
non-sustainable practice
is presently the policy
of many states and for
an increasing number of
regional and
sub-regional fisheries
management organisations,
including Wider
Caribbean states.
A potential strategy
could be to strengthen
relationships and forge
partnerships with
fisheries bodies and
existing observer
programmes, taking
advantage of on-going
initiatives and
expertise.
IPS: Most of the
principal cities of the
Caribbean states are
located in coastal
areas. How does the
development of human
settlements on the
coasts affect cetacean
habitat?
NW: Marine and coastal
environments in the
Wider Caribbean contain
diverse habitats,
including estuaries and
lagoons, mangroves,
beaches, coral reefs and
sea grass beds, which
are increasingly exposed
to stress from coastal
development as well as
increased fishing,
pollution from
land-based sources
(agriculture increases
sediment, nutrient, and
pesticide runoff) and
marine sources (oil
discharge and spills,
sewage, ballast and
bilge discharge, and
garbage dumping from
ships), and climate
change (sea level rise,
and increased likelihood
of hurricanes).
All such habitats are of
relevance to the life
cycle of marine mammals,
especially for inshore
and coastal species of
small cetaceans in the
Wider Caribbean, and
also for their prey as
spawning and feeding
grounds and nurseries.
The primary causes of
habitat loss are land
development for
settlements, tourism,
and agriculture, as well
as deforestation and
pollution.
IPS: What can be done to
prevent such damage to
habitat?
NW: Most of the
countries in the Wider
Caribbean Region have
adopted legal
instruments to control
various aspects of
pollution to coastal and
marine waters, with
varying degrees of
practical management and
control. Several
comprehensive regional
projects are under way
in support of pollution
control and the
implementation of the
regional protocols
concerning pollution
from land-based sources
and activities and
cooperation in combating
oil spills, under the
Cartagena Convention and
Caribbean Environment
Programme's Assessment
and Management of
Environmental Pollution.
Conservation actions
like the recent
establishment of the
sister sanctuary between
the Marine Mammal
Sanctuary of the
Dominican Republic (SMMRD)
and U.S. Stellwagen Bank
National Marine
Sanctuary (SBNMS)
provides a promising
management solution for
transboundary marine
species. This action is
the world's first sister
sanctuary linkage
protecting an endangered
migratory marine mammal
species on both ends of
its range.
These are two areas,
some 1,500 miles apart,
that provide critical
support for the same
humpback whale
population of around 900
whales. They are
resident at SBNMS and
adjacent feeding grounds
from April through
December, and migrate to
low latitudes in winter
months, including the
waters off the Dominican
Republic, to mate and
calve.
IPS: The area nations
are greatly dependent on
tourism. What could be
the impact of increased
tourism that involves
aquatic activities?
NW: Over the past few
decades, marine mammal
watching (whale, dolphin
and manatee) in the wild
has been promoted as
non-consumptive use that
promises monetary
rewards to people and
benefits to local
communities and
governments. Successful
tourism must benefit
local populations, both
economically and
culturally, while giving
incentive to protect the
natural resources that
are "tourist
destinations".
This is particularly
important in sensitive,
dynamic areas such as
coastal zones. Increased
development from tourism
can destroy or
marginalise habitats for
marine mammals and their
prey, such as through
increased unregulated
vessel activity,
inadequate wastewater
treatment and increased
fishing.
The challenge is
effectively managing
tourism to prevent it
from compromising
conservation goals.
National experiences in
developing and adopting
management measures for
whale and dolphin
watching should be used
along with other
existing guidelines
(International Whales
Commission's "General
Principles for
Whalewatching") towards
improvement of specific
regulations,
particularly in the case
of activity growth and
expansion into potential
new areas or cetacean
populations.
It is important to
mobilise and engage the
private sector and
tourism regional bodies
in the Wider Caribbean
as partners in the
implementation of SPAW's
Regional Marine Mammal
Action Plan, not only to
promote best business
practices on
interactions with
cetaceans, but also to
support research efforts
towards obtaining basic
biology knowledge of
species.
While the close approach
of any boat has the
potential to disturb
marine mammals, the use
of commercial whale
watching vessels provide
an inexpensive platform
to conduct long-term
photo-identification
studies on local marine
mammal populations. |
