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Interviews with the local people of Vava'u
show how important whales have become to the island. Following are
some of their comments:
From Filipe Tonga, an educator
and guide with Melinda Sea Adventures: "Through my involvement
in tourism I saw how important it was to conserve the environment
of Vava'u and Tonga, to have whales in a healthy marine environment.
Whales are hidden gold to the Tongan people but most don't know
what they have in their own backyard. I want to help the community
realise their wealth so that it is not lost for the next generation.
"To make a million dollars,
save the whales for the tourism industry," Filipe adds. "Not only
this year but many, many years after this generation, we can benefit
from the same whales. There is no way you can really compare this
to the dollar return gained from the killing of a whale for meat."
From Moifoa Loitu, a student
at Vava'u High School: "Whale watching is a very good resource
for us, the people of Vava'u, and for the economy of Tonga. We will
benefit more economically from keeping a whale alive for 30 to 40
years than by killing it."
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Whale watching can play an important part of the economies
of many nations in the South Pacific. In part for this reason, New
Zealand and Australia proposed the creation of a South Pacific Whale
Sanctuary in 1998. The South Pacific Forum, an intergovernmental
group representing countries and territories within the proposed
area, gave its support to the proposal to develop the sanctuary.
In 2001, a meeting of 14 countries and territories lying within
the proposed sanctuary, agreed unanimously to support its creation.
© Gleizes/Greenpeace
Whale watching has been an extremely successful industry in some
of the small, poor island nations. Vava'u, part of the Kingdom of
Tonga, has a thriving whale watching industry that local businesses
say is invaluable to the island's economy. In 1998, whale watching
directly contributed US$58,000 to the eco-tourism economy per season.
The indirect tourism expenditure from visitors who went whale watching
within the same year was US$1,173,622 per season.
In a poll carried out on the island in 1999, 30 percent of the
tourism operators said they felt whales were 'important' to Vava'u
as a tourist attraction, and 62 percent felt whales were 'extremely
important'. Most tourists visiting the island opposed whaling: 21
percent 'disagreed' with commercial whaling and 74 percent 'strongly
disagreed'.
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