Impacts of Eco-tourism on Conservation in the Province
While the proper promotion of ecotourism can have several positive effects on conservation, it doesn't come without its problems. After looking at several at home examples and recently taking a look at some National and Global examples of eco-tourism this week we look directly at the impacts of eco-tourism in our province on conservation efforts.
Being a relatively isolated province, any means of travel to the island (boat or plane) are fairly environmentally un-friendly (just for interest: a cool article on potential "green" planes of the future! http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20110405-will-green-airplanes-take-off ). In chapter 3 of Jennifer Hills book : Ecotourism and environmental sustainability: principles and practice (2009), it discusses how unsustainable aviation is as a mode of transportation, but it is also one of the most rapid growing. By promoting more local ecotourism and encouraging Newfoundland residents to experience our beautiful wilderness, we can reduce some of these associated pollution costs.
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| Greenhouse gas emissions for various modes of transportation http://www.ecovelo.info/2011/08/15/life-cycle-assessment-of-transportation-options/ |
Since boat tours including iceberg and whale watching are such popular tourism activities in Newfoundland, we were concerned with boat pollution from boat use as well as potential noise pollution if getting to close to the whales and other marine mammals. Since whale watching boats are realtively small (compared to industrial and cargo ships the noise pollution aspect is much lower. However a study conducted in BC and Washington looked at the impacts of noise from tour boats on Orca whales (Erbe, 2002). They found that at higher speeds there was an impact but are hoping that this study can help in setting speed regulations or boat/motor type regulations to cut back on noise disturbance that may impact whale communication.
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| Is noise pollution from ecotourism affecting whales? http://www.firstnews.co.uk/news/whales-have-to-shout-over-humans-i1973 |
While researching for this blog, we found a lack in province wide unity in terms of Eco-tourism. Looking at countries like Costa Rica, there is a nation wide effort to conserve and protect what they have. Currently it seems that Newfoundland and Canada, while on the right path, are still more interested in financial gain than conservation. If more regulations and standardization's around what can be labelled eco-tourism are be set in place, more legitimate establishments can be maintained while those that may be in it more for the money may fall to the wayside.
In response to a comment from an earlier blog, we looked into the Newfoundland Outfitters Association (NLOA) and whether or not we considered it an eco-tourism group as they claim to be. It is a group of businesses all promoting hunting and fishing within the province and thought it made a good parallel to hunting as eco-tourism in other places (Nunavut, where it is highly controlled and Africa where it is less so.) The NLOA has been around for 50 years and currently has over 60 members (businesses) all promoting hunting. Looking at their website (http://www.nloa.ca/index.html) they are mainly concerned with economic impacts and have no particular statements of conservation efforts or initiatives. We do not feel that this is a good example of an ecotourism group as each individual hunting business has a different set of guidelines and priorities. From personal experience, Tom Farrel commented on the Flowers Ridge Lodge in the province which works on a catch and release only policy, runs on solar power and uses only 5 gallons of diesel per year for the lodge versus 500 for some other establishments. In this case, an argument could be made for promoting experiencing nature while still respecting it.
References:
Erbe, C. (2002), UNDERWATER NOISE OF WHALE-WATCHING BOATS AND POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON KILLER WHALES (ORCINUS ORCA), BASED ON AN ACOUSTIC IMPACT MODEL. Marine Mammal Science, 18: 394–418. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2002.tb01045.x
Hill, J. 2009. Ecotourism and environmental sustainability: principles and practice. Ashgate Publishing.
NLOA website: http://www.nloa.ca/index.html
In your blog you mentioned the risk of noise disturbance from tour boats effecting whales. In Newfoundland is there any evidence of boat tours colliding with whales and causing damage to them that way?
ReplyDeleteAlso how does the noise actually effect the whales? does it effect their mating patterns or feeding habits?
Brittany and Garry
The only info we found on sound interference had to do with disturbances in the communication of the whales. In return this could affect a wide variety of things depending what they are trying to convey to their pods.
ReplyDeleteEverything we found in terms of collisions had to do with much larger boats such as Cruise ships or on occasion yacht, and we couldn't find any Newofundland specific examples of these occurences.
Now that you have reviewed Newfoundland's Eco-tourism in your groups opinion do you think Newfoundland and Labrador meet the six main principles of Eco-tourism outlined in your first blog?
ReplyDeleteIan and Carissa
This is covered in our next blog post:
Deletehttp://conservationbiologynewfoundland.blogspot.ca/2012/04/normal.html
We feel Newfoundland is on the right track regarding ecotourism and conservation efforts, however being an island province, with a lack of legislation standardization, we are currently driven more by economic gain than optimal conservation.
On the National Geographic website the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador is ranked 84th on a list of 99 coastal destinations to visit. In the article a professor of tourism and marketing says Newfoundland has struck a balance extolling its "stunning natural and cultural integrity." Messages like these seem to mask the idea of the various conservation issues Newfoundland and Labrador is facing, and as you mentioned above, support the province's and country's concern with financial gain. Do you think that the majority of our "natural beauty" is simply being exploited financially through eco-tourism?
ReplyDelete