ISLAND CONSERVATION-Whale watching - By Adrian Skerrett |02 August 2004

The atmosphere on board as we departed Mahé bound for the outer islands and Aldabra was always one of great excitement and anticipation over the wonders of nature we were about to see. But before we reached any islands there was a vast area of empty ocean to cross. Or maybe it was not so empty? One of the first questions passengers would ask is “Are we going to see any whales?”

“Of course we are going to see whales!” the ever-enthusiastic Captain Kemp would boom. “But we have to keep our eyes peeled. So, I would like to announce that there is a prize of a bottle of champagne for the first person to spot a whale!”

The winner of the prize was invariably the same person on every cruise: Captain Kemp himself. He had an advantage over everyone else because he was on the ship’s bridge, where he was determined no one was going to beat him to the champagne. He would check the ship’s radar for any signs of whales breaching the surface and scan the horizon with his binoculars until he saw his quarry.

 “Whale on the port bow!” Captain Kemp announced through the intercom, bringing every passenger scuttling on deck.

Captain Kemp had seen the tell-tale spout of water from the blow hole of a whale as it surfaced and memorizing the location, he turned the cruiseship around sharply as if he was driving a motor boat and headed at full steam straight for the spot.

By this time, the whale would usually have submerged and Captain Kemp would stop the engines nearby. There was an eerie silence as we peered over the featureless ocean, waiting. Five minutes passed, then ten and just as the passengers were beginning to wonder if it was all a practical joke, the whale (or more usually a small pod of whales) would surface and blow again.

A huge cheer would go up from the passengers. This was one of the highlights of the cruise and one they would undoubtedly relate to their friends back home.

A moment like that is worth a million dollars. Seriously, it is worth a considerable amount of money. Whale watching attracts a lot of visitors to some parts of the world yet in the Indian Ocean it has never been exploited. True, it is not easy to reach the distant deep waters of Seychelles EEZ where whales are to be seen, but the world is shrinking. What today seems difficult may one day be routine.

Thanks largely to the endeavours of Seychelles, the Indian Ocean Sanctuary was established by the International Whaling Council (IWC) in 1979, extending south to 55°S latitude, as an area where commercial whaling is prohibited. The Indian Ocean Sanctuary was initially established for 10 years and since then its duration has since been extended twice.

The southern boundary joins the northern boundary of the Southern Ocean sanctuary at 55°S, extending into the South Pacific. This is arguably the world’s largest “nature reserve” for any species yet few people visit it to see whales.

Maybe one day, as the outer islands become more accessible to visitors that will change and it will be recognised that live whales can be far more valuable than dead ones.
Island Conservation promotes the conservation and restoration of island ecosystems.