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Humpback whale - Source: Reuters -
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Whaling nations should consider an end to hunting as a whale-watching boom has made that industry more lucrative, conservation group International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said.
In an interview with Reuters, IFAW director Patrick Ramage said the global whale-watching industry made revenues of $2.1 billion in 2008, far outweighing the economic benefits of whale-hunting by Japan, Iceland and Norway.
Whale-watching began in the late 1950s "on a very small fishing boat off the coast of California", and has since boomed, Ramage said.
"Part of the growth is because it is still a relatively new and developing industry and the expansion of the whole ecotourism industry has a lot to do with it," he said.
The whale-watching industry has grown to such an extent that environmentalists presented it at this week's annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Portugal as an argument for whaling nations to end their hunts, especially as the economic downturn bites.
"On one side you have a tremendously prosperous whale-watching industry returning income to a broad sector of the coastal community, and on the other you have the narrowly focussed, heavily-financed whaling industry," Ramage said.
A moratorium on commercial whaling was agreed in 1986, but Japan continues to skirt it for scientific research, while Iceland and Norway harpoon whales for commercial use.
Ramage said a report presented at the IWC meeting showed that the whale-watching industry had more than doubled its revenues in a decade.
In comparison, commercial whaling tends to be heavily subsidised by tax-payers and would be a net loss-maker if state support was removed, the report said.
The whale-watching industry has grown at an average rate of 3.7% a year, comparing well with global tourism growth of 4.2%, the report added. In 2008, 13 million people participated in whale-watching in 119 countries.
Compiled by Australian consultants Economist at Large, the report was shown to government delegations attending the IWC meeting by the Australian delegation.
Australia is among several anti-whaling nations that advocate an end to whale-hunting, arguing that it is a cruel practice that endangers whale species.
