Swimming with humpback whales available at Ningaloo Marine Park in 2016

The famed Ningaloo marine park in Western Australia (WA) would allow swimming with humpback whales in 2016, an attempt to promote ecotourism. At a time, up to 10 people will be allowed to come as close as four metres to a stationary whale and up to 30 metres when the whale is moving.

It would be forbidden for people to touch the whales, or go close to a mother and her calf, or to go near if the whales are resting within the Exmouth Gulf. Large boats will have to be kept outside by 200 metres from the whales. These efforts allow people the opportunity to swim with humpback whales while ensuring that the natural movement and wellbeing of the animals are not disturbed.

“The humpback whale season actually coincides almost perfectly towards the end of the whale shark season, so this will essentially double the tourism season,” said Albert Jacob, WA environment minister, reports The Guardian. The minister said that the humpback whale trial was set to begin in June 2016 to discuss how Ningaloo and other areas could host these tours as a permanent feature. The already existing licenced whale shark tour companies could be expected participate in the trials.

A review of humpback whale populations conducted by a team of international collaborators, published in the Marine Policy journal in July 2015, found an increase in the whale populations off the west coast of Australia. The west coast had seen an increase of nine percent annually, and the east coast – 10 percent annually, since 2012, in humpback whale populations. The research confirmed this to be the highest documented rise in the world.

Jacob said that the Threatened Species Committee had recommended the delisting of the humpback whale to place it in the specially protected category, prompting authorities to make swimming with humpback whales an ecotourism activity. Annually, around 23,000 people swim with whale sharks at Exmouth and Coral Bay – boosting the state’s economy by $6 million.

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