Humpback Whale off Sydney, Australia, in 2011
Government of Japan subsidised whale hunting in the Antarctic runs at a loss and has done so for years. Even after meat collected on this allegedly scientific hunt is sold on to Japanese retailers for an estimated 6 billion yen ($64.5 million) a year, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper on January 23 2010 .
Australian coastal communities have been watching the annual whale migration since people first began to collect on the shoreline. Over the last twenty years this whale migration has begun to play a significant part in many local economies.
As the 2011 IFAW Valuing wales for International Whale Day: Final Report points out:
What’s a whale worth to Hervey Bay?
Data collected by O'Connor et al (2009) valued direct ticket revenues from whale watching in Hervey Bay at $5.9 million in 20081.
Indirect expenditure associated with whale watching was estimated at $7.0 million, giving a total of $12.9 million.
From these figures and the above population estimates, we calculated present value per whale of AUD $97,000.
What’s a whale worth to Warrnambool?
Data collected by O'Connor et al (2009) found that total expenditure by whale watching tourists was $2.6 million in 20082.
From this total revenue figure and the local population we estimated the following on average present value per whale of AUD $1,259,000.
This value is significantly larger than the values in Hervey Bay and Broome because revenue from whale watching in Warrnambool is high and the population is very small by comparison to the other two regions.
What’s a whale worth to Broome?
O'Connor et al (2009) found direct ticket revenues from whale watching around Broome were $169,000 in 2008.
Indirect expenditure associated with whale watching was estimated at $244,000 giving a total of $413,0003.
From these figures and the above population estimates, we estimated average present value per whale at AUD $32,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment