The day after the tsunami was international Ocean Day! Our environmental association put on a display of posters and went into the local schools to talk about why it's important to protect our oceans, we also had Elie and Frere Maxime here with us to help spread the word, they are environmental activists from Tahiti and are here to help us get the ball rolling.
In particular, we're concerned about the whales here in Rurutu, French Polynesia is one of the few places where you can actually swim with whales, and as Rurutu is particularly well blessed with whales, the island attracts a fair number of visitors who come especially for the whales, but the activity is not regulated (or at least the rules are not enforced). It's both important from an economic and an environmental perspective to protect the whales, to insure that they continue to return to our waters, year after year. This year has been a rather disappointing year for the whales, they weren't so numerous and kept leaving for several days at a time - this coincides with heavy work being carried out on our harbor, it seems quite likely that the vibrations caused by the pneumatic drills could have scared the whales. Likewise the fact that the whaleboats themselves do not respect the rules of approach (you should cut your motor at 50m distance and never approach within 30m), they often approach the whales to within a few meters without cutting the motor, which is a great experience for the visitor, but could easily be upsetting our whales. But as no one really monitors the whales, we don't really know why some years are better than others.
In particular, we're concerned about the whales here in Rurutu, French Polynesia is one of the few places where you can actually swim with whales, and as Rurutu is particularly well blessed with whales, the island attracts a fair number of visitors who come especially for the whales, but the activity is not regulated (or at least the rules are not enforced). It's both important from an economic and an environmental perspective to protect the whales, to insure that they continue to return to our waters, year after year. This year has been a rather disappointing year for the whales, they weren't so numerous and kept leaving for several days at a time - this coincides with heavy work being carried out on our harbor, it seems quite likely that the vibrations caused by the pneumatic drills could have scared the whales. Likewise the fact that the whaleboats themselves do not respect the rules of approach (you should cut your motor at 50m distance and never approach within 30m), they often approach the whales to within a few meters without cutting the motor, which is a great experience for the visitor, but could easily be upsetting our whales. But as no one really monitors the whales, we don't really know why some years are better than others.
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