Sightings and social media spark British whale-watching boom

May 15, 2021

The charismatic and socially complex animals have long captured popular imagination, like Knobble the minke whale, who has returned to the Sea of the Hebrides every year since 2006, has his own Facebook page and even inspired a song. And who could forget Benny the beluga, who sparked a tourism boom, merchandise and an eponymous pale ale when he rocked up in Gravesend in 2018.

“When I first set up a public sightings programme and built an observer network back in the 1970s, very few people were aware that they could see a rich variety of whales and dolphins in the waters around the British Isles,” said Peter Evans, the director of the cetacean conservation and research charity Sea Watch Foundation, which he said had constant requests from the public about ways to get involved in conservation efforts.

“Wildlife-watching is fast replacing fishing as a source of income in some areas, with ecotourism outstripping other forms of tourism.”

A year of lockdown restrictions has also encouraged people to discover nature on their doorstep and take more domestic holidays.

Evans said that when handled with care and responsibility, activities like whale-watching could benefit both people and the natural world.

“I’ve known cases of people being cured of depression, giving up unsatisfying jobs and careers to move into a more environmentally-aware form of living and working. That’s something whales and dolphins can do that few other species on this planet have the capacity to achieve.”