As the 2016 tourism season drew to a close, Juneau whale-watching operators — as members of Juneau’s Tourism Best Management Practices (TBMP) — sat down to reflect on another year of serving the community of Juneau and its visitors.
With humpback whale populations throughout Alaska having doubled over the last 15 years, we look toward upholding a sustainable whale-watching industry. Thriving populations have justified removing the Hawaiian humpback whales (which make up about 95 percent of Southeast Alaska’s whales) from the Endangered Species List, making it no surprise that Juneau’s reputation as an extraordinary whale-watching destination continues to grow.
With this growth come challenges, and we in the tourism industry understand the responsibility we have to local residents/boaters with whom we want to respectfully share the waterways and shoreline. TBMP was formed 20 years ago to minimize the impacts of a growing tourism industry. We continue to evaluate the program each year and add new voluntary guidelines to address developing impacts and concerns.
During the last three summers, as a result of local residents’ concerns, we added guidelines to our program which:
• Develop a defined route for operators transiting into and out of Auke Bay to Battleship Island, in an attempt to alleviate the impact of boat wake on private docks and shoreline neighborhoods;
• Create consensus among operators to stay south of the Strauss Rock buoy while transiting south Shelter Island and remain outside of Favorite Reef when not actively observing wildlife in those areas. This is intended to minimize wake on the shores of the Shelter Island community;
• Encourage operators to avoid passing through the Indian Island cut in order to minimize our impact on other boaters in that area;
• Strive to eliminate commercial watercraft passing through the Fritz Cove cut, so as to minimize wake impacts.
In response to recent input from local sportfishermen, we are adding a new guideline whereby operators agree to maintain a 100-yard distance when transiting past vessels that are actively fishing whenever possible. (Note: “transiting” here and in other TBMP guidelines is defined as passing at a speed that creates a wake.) We hope this will alleviate many of the concerns with boat wake in popular fishing locations.
The industry will work closely with the local sportfishing community to ensure our impacts, both on the water and at the docks, are further reduced during the Golden North Salmon Derby weekend.
Many Juneau-area whale-watching companies have joined a new program in conjunction with NOAA to promote responsible whale watching. Whale SENSE provides operating guidelines which exceed federal whale-watching regulations, further addressing voluntary speed zones and approach patterns. The program provides supplemental training to educate captains, guides and guests, and ensures whale viewing regulations are adhered to. Local boaters can look for boats flying the Whale SENSE flag to identify participating companies, or visit www.whalesense.org to learn more about the program’s success.
[NOAA’s WhaleSENSE reaches one-year anniversary]
The value of tourism to Juneau’s economy has become more pronounced given Alaska’s current fiscal challenges. With over 20 percent of CBJ sales tax attributed directly to tourism, the steady source of tax dollars and jobs the tourism industry creates are crucial to Alaska’s overall economic health.
The tourism industry and TBMP members realize tourism does create other impacts. We thank those community members who use TBMP as a method of communicating their concerns. We encourage you to visit www.TBMP.info, email hotline@traveljuneau.com or call the TBMP hotline at (907)586-6774. If you have concerns about a specific boat or operator, we ask that you include the date, location, time and vessel in your report. We also remind residents about the TBMP annual spring meeting, where all can share their concerns and look for potential solutions before the 2017 tourism season begins. Look for our ad in the Juneau Empire next spring and on the TBMP website for the specific date and location.
We continue to value the support of this community. Together, TBMP members and local residents can work together to make tourism work for Juneau.
• Sierra Gadaire is the operations manager of Gastineau Guiding Company. She wrote this My Turn in collaboration with 15 Juneau whale-watching operators, all of whom are TBMP members. To see a full list of these local businesses and to learn more, visit www.TBMP.info.
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