G'day folks,
We are pleased to announce the publication of the following paper in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism:
Managing whale-watching as a non-lethal consumptive activity.
Abstract: Marine tourism is a new frontier of late-capitalist transformation,
generating more global revenue than aquaculture and fisheries combined. This transformation created whale-watching, a commercial tourism form that, despite recent critiques, has been accepted as non-consumptive activity. This paper uses four academic discourses
to critique whale-watching as a form of capitalist exploitation: (1) commercial whale-watching and global capitalist transformation, (2) global capitalist politics and the promoted belief that whale-watching is non-consumptive, (3) the inherent contradictions
of non-consumptive capitalist exploitation, and (4) whale-watching as a common-pool resource. These discourses lead us to critique whale-watching practices in relation to the common capitalist sequence of resource diversification, exploitation, depletion and
collapse. Using specific impact studies, we conclude that a sustainability paradigm shift is required, whereby whale-watching (and other forms of wildlife tourism) is recognized as a form of non-lethal consumptive exploitation, understood in terms of sub-lethal
anthropogenic stress and energetic impacts. We argue the need for a paradigm shift in the regulation and management of commercial whale-watching, and present the case for a unified, international framework for managing the negative externalities of whale-watching.
The relevance of the issues raised about neoliberal policy-making extends beyond whale-watching to all forms of wildlife and nature-based tourism.
The full citation is as follows: James E.S. Higham, Lars Bejder, Simon J. Allen, Peter J. Corkeron
& David Lusseau (2015). Managing whale-watching as a non-lethal consumptive activity. Journal of Sustainable Tourism DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2015.1062020
Best regards, James, Lars, Simon, Peter and David
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Simon Allen, PhD
Murdoch University Cetacean Research Unit
School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
Murdoch University
90 South St, Murdoch
Western Australia 6150
mob: (61-0) 416 083 653
email: s.allen@murdoch.edu.au
web1: http://www.sharkbaydolphins.org
"The opposite of courage is not cowardice; it is conformity. Even dead fish can go with the flow." (Jim Hightower)