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Ecotourism promotes conservation
The Walindi
Plantation Resort in West New Britain promotes whale, porpoise
and dolphin (cetaceans) watching as a means of conserving these
mammals. FRANCIS GABRIEL reports
The Walindi Plantation Resort,
located on the North Coast of West New Britain province is world
renowned for its incredible dive sites.
The resort actively stands to promote conservation of Kimbe
Bay's natural environment, especially by promoting marine life
and its habitats through ecotourism.
Centred on conserving the environment and its wild life while
promoting tourism, Walindi Plantation Resort has gone further in
promoting whale, porpoise and dolphin (cetaceans) watching - a
unique tourism attraction that has been active since the 1980s.
According to the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ecotourism,
also known as ecological tourism, is a form of tourism which
appeals to the ecologically and socially conscious. Generally
speaking, ecotourism focuses on local culture, wilderness
adventures, volunteering, personal growth, and learning new ways
to live on the planet; typically involving travel to
destinations where flora, fauna and cultural heritage are the
primary attractions as offered by Walindi and other ecotourism
providers in the country
According to Walindi's Cheyne Benjamin, apart from the regular
dolphin watching trips to visiting sites home to large pods of
dolphins, Walindi boasts for its unique and rare sightings of
the hammerhead shark eating whales - the orca or commonly known
as Killer Whale.
"It may come as a surprise to realise that Orca, normally seen
in documentaries featuring ice floes, penguins and cold water
can be found in the Bismarck and Solomon Seas. Although resident
within this huge area, the Orca are an unusual sight in our
beautiful tropical waters, preferring to hunt far out to sea,
occasionally though there is the once in a lifetime opportunity
to see these utterly spell binding creatures closer into land.
Kimbe Bay, home to Walindi Plantation Resort, is a favoured
haunt of the Orca, with regular sightings throughout the year,"
Ms Benjamin said as quoted in one of her article.
Being nature-based, ecotourism supports the protection of
natural areas by focusing and depending on them as tourism
features.
As in this case, the Walindi resort aims to preserve whales and
dolphins by promoting them as iconic species.
By using these marine species as tourism features it
incorporates the will to conserve and preserve them.
As far as conservation is concerned such a unique tourism
activity may be the answer to boosting the depleting number of
these mammals - the class humans come under.
Dolphins and whales, like any other mammals including humans,
face an uncertain future. This is because of human exploitation
without proper conservation.
According to a survey report for The Nature Conservancy on Kimbe
Bay second Marine Mammal Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA),
along with previously collected data and anecdotal information,
Kimbe Bay continues to show high biodiversity of cetacean
(whale, dolphin and porpoise) species.
This can be attributed to the marine life conservation
activities promoted by Walindi Plantation Resort.
The report, from the survey carried out in April 2003, confirmed
that 11 species of cetaceans have now been positively identified
from the Kimbe Bay area, with further two tentatively
identified.
However, "many of these species are not even listed as present
in the waters of Papua New Guinea by the International Union on
the Conservation of Nature in their Red Data List (IUCN,2000),"
the report stated.
The whale and dolphin population is suffering in the hands of
contamination and various fishing methods, most notably purse
seine fishing for tuna and the use of drift and gill nets, which
results in a large number of dolphins and whales being killed
inadvertently.
Either way, it is all to do with human activities. Consequently,
if nothing is done and if whales and dolphins can die out
through such causes, Papua New Guinea's natural environment,
which is made up of unique flora and fauna, will only be
descriptive features in generations to come.
"The world is dying," Walindi's Max Benjamin said, when
commenting on the seriousness of lack of conservation and the
importance of preserving Papua New Guinea's flora and fauna.
He said that it was extremely important that people start
conserving for the future now before there is nothing left to
preserve.
"We've got to reverse this trend. And this can only be done by
educating the people in managing their natural environment -
increase environmental and cultural knowledge."
And this can also be done through the promotion of ecotourism.
Since education and research go hand-in-hand, Walindi Plantation
Resort has set up a nature centre (Walindi Nature Centre) to
address environment conservation issues through research and
studies as well as carrying out community awareness activities.
It was through the centre that the REA surveys were conducted in
the waters of Kimbe Bay.
The surveys, which involved the observation of resting, foraging
and mating behaviour of various cetacean species, indicated the
importance of the Kimbe Bay area for essential biological
functions.
"Given these findings, the greater Kimbe Bay area should be
preserved and protected," the second REA survey recommended.
As recommended in the first REA report (Visser, 2002a), a
long-term cetacean research project is highly recommended. It
will provide scientific information such as species present in
the area, population demographics, foraging behaviour, site
fidelity, habitat use and threats.
This information will assist the Government and non-governmental
organisations in their role of administration and protection of
Kimbe Bay habitat and the marine mammal species found there,
whose status is currently unknown.
Ecotourists go to places like Walindi Plantation Resort to
observe and appreciate their prevailing natural flora and fauna.
Hence, through such researches, effective ecotourism activities
can be designed to encourage awareness towards the conservation
of natural and cultural assets, among both locals and tourists.
In terms of tourist attraction, the Walindi resort, according to
Mr Benjamin, gets up to 500 divers each year to watch these
amazing mammals.
This on the other hand is a boost to the economy of Papua New
Guinea.
On this note, it can be said that ecotourism promotes
sustainability (environmental, socio-cultural and economic) by
providing alternative employment and income opportunities for
local communities, while maintaining the integrity of their
natural resources.
 
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