Tonga, a popular destination for whale-swimming, has carefully balanced its tourism appeal with marine conservation efforts as other countries, like Mauritius, crack down on irresponsible whale-watching practices.
In Mauritius, authorities are enforcing stricter regulations due to an influx of influencers from China and Taiwan seeking viral social media photos of themselves swimming with whales. This has led to chaos in cetacean habitats, disrupting breeding whales. Mauritius now bans swimming with whales, with hefty fines and jail time for violators.
Tonga, however, continues to offer regulated whale-swimming tours. The Tonga Tourism Authority, along with operators like Endangered Encounters, allows small groups to swim with whales, emphasising that all decisions are made based on the whales’ behaviour.
The Tonga Tourism Authority advertises whale-swimming tours on the front page of its official website, although restrictions do apply, according to promotional material posted by tour operators.
“Our regulations allow us four swimmers in the water with our certified guide,” the operator Endangered Encounters says on its advertisement on the Authority website, adding that whether or not people are allowed to swim with whales is entirely at the captain’s discretion. However, it adds: “We prefer our guests to have EVERY opportunity to swim if possible.”
Yu Hsin-yee, research manager at Taiwan’s marine education non-profit Kuroshio Marine Education Foundation, said Australian research in Tonga had found that if a swimmer jumps into the water less than 50 metres (yards) from a whale, splashing water and kicking with flippers, the mother whale will sometimes react by leaving. When the distance is more than 100 meters (yards), there is much less of a reaction from the mother and calf.
Yu said operators had taken cues from the whales themselves when she visited Tonga in 2016.
“A dive guide told me that a tourist in a previous group wanted to dive down to get close to a baby whale, but … he stopped him from disturbing the cetaceans,” Yu said.
She said the boat captain and the dive guide would first observe the whales before deciding whether or not to allow tourists to dive near them.
She was impressed that the boatman and the dive guide also left the decision of interaction to the whales.
“Once they spotted signs of humpback whales, they would observe the animals first, to assess whether swimming with them would be appropriate,” Yu said.
Taiwanese whale and dolphin photographer Ray Chin told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview that 70-80 percent of humpback pods encountered by tourist boats include mothers and calves, in his experience.
Chin said he has followed whales for long periods in Tonga, in the hope of being allowed closer to a mother and calf but was eventually warned off after the boat captain decided against further contact, as the whales were being somewhat evasive.
“The boat captains wouldn’t do illegal things if people didn’t put pressure on them to see or photograph specific things, or to dive next to the whales,” he said.
“Consumers should have their own awareness of conservation, and recognise that whales and dolphins are wild animals, not just objects to pose next to for selfies,” he said. And while there are an estimated 4,000 humpback whales around Oceania, putting the species in the category “of least concern” on the IUCN’s Red List, those around Tonga are in greater danger, Yu said.