pdf GTG Whale Watching in Sri Lanka (2013 09 06).pdf - Google Drive

Gehan’s Training Guide

Whale Watching in Sri Lanka A teach yourself guide for boat crews and whale watchers covering Identification, Surface Behavior and the Top Stories.

© Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com

Text & Images

Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne Version 2013 September 06

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Photographers Principal Photographer

Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

Other Photographers Joshua Barton Riaz Cader Georgina Gemmell Sampath Gunasinghe Paul Hilton Chitral Jayatilake David Loh Stephen Moss Ashan Seneviratne Marianne Taylor Tony Wu


2 Persian Shearwater, Kalpitiya

Contents Introduction Part 1: Sri Lanka’s Top Whale Watching Stories, Locations, etc. Part 2: How to tell apart Blue and Sperm Whales Part 3: A Guide to Surface Behavior Part 4: Responsible whale watching and conservation issues


Part 05: Taking it further

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Introduction At present, almost all of the whale watching boats are crewed by local communities. In terms of interpretation they are presented with a few difficulties. • Firstly, English is not their first language, making it difficult to converse as fluently as guides in English-speaking countries. • Secondly, not being fluent in English makes it difficult to access technical information which can be relayed to clients in guiding. • Thirdly, different clients have different expectations in terms of the level of detail they would like on a whale watch. The objective of this information pack is to be a self-help guide for clients on these boats to have information, especially if they have booked directly onto a boat without a naturalist guide. © Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com

However, this pack will be also be used to supplement the information provided by the naturalist guides of the companies that are supporting the distribution of this pack.

Copies of this guide can be down-loaded from the web. 4

And if you see a Blue Whale….. Pause for a moment to think of how privileged you are. This is the largest animal to live on the planet. It is bigger than any dinosaur. Humanity almost lost this amazing animal. Almost every 999 in 1,000 Blue Whales were killed by whalers in Antarctic waters. Illegal whaling by the Soviets which continued up to 1980, and nearly wiped out the Indian Ocean population. A large number of the Blue Whales were killed for their oil to be used in soap and margarine. Since it was publicised in May 2008 that Sri Lanka was Best for Blue Whale, tens of thousands of people have seen what until then was considered one of the hardest animals to see in the world. 5

And if you see a Sperm Whale….. This is the largest toothed carnivore on the planet.

It is the deepest diver in the animal kingdom, with dives recorded of up to 3 kilometres. More typically they feed at depths of 400 meters. It is an intelligent social animal with a social structure similar to elephants. The pods found off Sri Lanka are breeding schools.

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Part 1

Sri Lanka’s Top Whale Watching Stories


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Sri Lanka’s Top Whale Watching Stories Best in World Sri Lanka is best for Blue Whale in the world. December to mid April from Mirissa. In Trincomalee, peak encounter rate is in March and April, but season extends to August. • Sri Lanka is best for super-pods of Sperm Whales in the world. Kalpitiya from December to April. Trincomalee from March to April. • Sri Lanka has best chance of a Blue Whale and Sperm Whale on the same sailing, in the world. Mirissa and Trincomalee, seasons as above. •Swamy Rock in Trincomalee is the best shore-based site for Blue Whales in world for watching. Seasonal. A winner in the wilds [Is Sri Lanka the best all-round wildlife destination in the world?].

Noteworthy • Super-pods of Spinner Dolphins off Kalpitiya. December to mid April. • 5 species of marine turtle come ashore to nest, months vary by species. Turtles seen on sailings. • Bryde’s Whale regular in Kalpitiya.


Sri Lanka’s Ranking: Blue and Sperm Whales

Target Species Blue Whale Sperm Whale Sperm Whale Super-pods

World 1 Top 10 1

Asia 1 1 1

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Feeding Strategies of Blue Whales (migrants vs. residents) •

•

The majority of Blue Whales (‘migrants’) seem to arrive around November-December and leave in April, in an East-West migration (The hypothesis by Dr. Charles Anderson and others). Some seem to be present throughout the year (‘residents’) . Until Sep 2011, we had no answer as to whether enough were ‘residents’ to make commercial whale watching possible during the East Coast season (May-August). Note that even ‘residents’ may alternate between feeding off the east and west coasts depending on where krill is available.

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Sri Lanka’s Whale Watching Triangle

Whale Watching Locations in Sri Lanka Site Publicised Trincomaleee

Known in 1980s. Re-investigated in April 2010. Extension of season publicised in Sep 2011

Mirissa

Publicised in May 2008

Kalpitiya

Publicised in Feb 2010

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Location Summary: Mirissa & Trincomalee Time & Encounter Rate

Blues Whales: Resident vs. Migrant

Mirissa Blue Whales Outside the migratory period, the seas are November to mid April. December-January Blue Whales too rough to look for resident Blue migrating East to Bay of Bengal and return migration to Whales. Arabian Sea (Horn of Africa) in April- March. 90% Encounter rate in season. Sperm Whales Ad hoc throughout season. Super-pods not common. Trincomalee Blue Whales Migrants + Resident Blue Whales. March to April: Max numbers of Blues because of migrants. 90% Encounter rate in this period. May to September: Resident Blues Resident Blue Whales. Sperm Whales March to April, super-pods have been recorded. Data still thin. Between May to August, Trincomalee has had a combined encounter rate of 80% for Blue or Sperm Whales.

Rough Seas

South-west Monsoon: May to Sep. Inter-monsoonal October. Calming from November. Turns rough in mid April.

North-east Monsoon: October to February. Seas calm from March to late September.


See earlier slide for meaning of ‘resident’

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Location Summary: Kalpitiya Time & Encounter Rate

Blues Whales: Resident vs. Migrant

Rough Seas

Kalpitiya Blue Whales Rarely seen.

Resident Blue Whales may be present South-west Monsoon: May during South-west Monsoon, but seas are to September. Intertoo rough to look for them. monsoonal October. Sperm Whales Calming from November. Most reliable site in Sri Lanka for Sperm Whales. December Turns rough in mid April. to mid April. Encounter rate from 1 in 3 to 1 in 5. But data still thin. March to April, super-pods have been recorded. Brydes' Whale May be the most reliable site. Ecnounter rate of 1 in 5. Orca Seems to be recorded every year, best site in Sri Lanka but too infrequent to go in search of it. Dugong Whale watchers have encountered it. But too infrequent to go in search of it. © Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com

Migrant vs. Resident Blue Whales. Blue Whales which choose to feed in Sri Lankan waters year-round are referred to as residents. 'Migrants' travel to the Arabian Sea during the South-west Monsoon (May to September).

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Part 2 How to tell apart Blue & Sperm Whales



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How to tell apart Blue & Sperm Whales  Blue Whale

 Sperm Whale

• •

•

Short stubby (spiky) dorsal fin. Pale mottling on skin.


Rounded (conical) dorsal fin.


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 Blue Whale • Tail is a broad triangle. • Trailing edge a shallow V. Each fluke is convex. • Shallow notch in middle.


 Sperm Whale • Tail is a narrower triangle. • Trailing edge of each fluke rounded and convex. • Deeply indented notch between flukes.


• Fluke patterns enable scientists to identify individual whales using photographic identification.

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 Blue Whale • Smooth outline.


 Sperm Whale • ‘Knuckles’ or serration on top.


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 Blue Whale

 Sperm Whale

•‘Fat sausage’ like body when seen from the side. • Mottling.

• Shows a wrinkled body. • No mottling.

© Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com © Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com

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 Blue Whale Can offer very different profiles. • Sausage shaped from the side

• Can look long like a cigar when viewed from front or behind. • Blue Whales are used to boats and may get close to you. But boats should not go up to them to avoid 18 stress.

 Blue Whale • Almost always have Remoras (sucker fish).

 Sperm Whale • Remoras absent on sperm whales. • Sperm Whales can dive and feed at depths between 1-3 km. The remoras would be crushed to death at these depths if they stayed on a Sperm Whale.


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 Blue Whale – Behavioural differences The Northern Indian Ocean Blue Whales seen off Sri Lanka differ from the ones off Baja California. •In Baja, they fluke up 1 in 10 dives. Off Sri Lanka, they fluke-up 9 in 10 dives (unless they are feeding near the surface). • Per Michael Fishback, Blues in Baja have remoras only around the dorsal fin. Off Sri Lanka, they have remoras all over.


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

Baleen or Toothed or Whale?

• Whales & dolphins are broadly of two kinds (families). Baleen whales (or Mysticetes meaning moustached whales in a reference to the bristly baleen) or Toothed whales (Odontocetes). Toothed whales like the dolphins and Sperm Whales have a single blow hole and baleen whales like the Blue Whale has two. In the photograph below taken from the upper deck of a whale watching boat, the twin blow holes of a Blue whale is just about visible.

• Baleen Whales sieve their food through baleen sheets and don’t have teeth.

To see the twin blow holes you will need to be on the upper deck of a whale watching boat.

(c) Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne

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

Baleen Whale –twin blow holes

The image above by Tony Wu shows the twin blow holes closed by a baleen whale (Blue Whale) which has dived. Other animals including crocodiles and hippos can make their nostrils water-tight underwater. The aerial image to the left by Chitral Jayatilake shows clearly the open twin blow holes . Most whale watchers won’t see them so clearly as the splash guard around the blow holes blocks the view. 22



Blow holes – Single blow hole for toothed whales

Dolphins are also odontocetes and have a single blowhole

The Sperm Whale on the right shows its single blow hole. Note the flaking skin. Sperm Whales often have sheaves of skin flaking off which are collected by scientists for studying their DNA.

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 Sperm Whale • A close up of the conical and angled blow hole.

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Part 3 A Guide to Surface Behavior


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A Guide to Surface Behavior This section illustrates some of the behaviour which can be seen at the surface and introduces some of the terms that are used in whale watching.


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 Aerial Behavior: Breaching Breaching is when a whale or dolphin lifts its body out of the water. Multiple reasons suggested: It could be a courtship display, to dislodge parasites or play.

With Sperm Whales, females breach when a mature bull arrives at a breeding school. This is probably a female.


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 Belly up Complex social behavior. The purpose is not entirely clear. Are they just having fun?


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 Bubbling (Trumpetting) This rarely observed behaviour was photographed between two Blue Whales in courtship. One whale would bubble or trumpet with its blow holes just below the surface sending up a column of water. This is very different to sending up a column of water vapour when they breathe out.



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 Bow riding • Whales and dolphins sometimes ride the pressure wave in front of the boat. • Remember not to change speed or direction suddenly when animals are bow riding.

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 Blow or Spout • The column of water vapor created when whales breath out (exhale). • In a Sperm Whale the blow hole is to the left of the body and slants forward. • Sperm Whale blows are low and bushy and shoots forward.


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 Blow (Blue Whale) • Note straight tall blow. Can be three stories high. • Blue Whales are loners. Sometimes a mother and calf are seen together.

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

Cetacean Waves

At times a few species of cetaceans may feed together such as the Spinners and the Bryde’s Whale photographed below in Trincomalee by Georgina Gemmell in April 2013. Such occurrences are rare. Whale watchers are more likely to encounter associations between Spinners, Rissos, Pantropical Spotted and Striped Dolphins. When Long-finned Pilot Whales are seen, Bottlenose Dolphins are often seen as well. The term ‘cetacean wave’ is coined from the analogous ‘bird wave’ when different species of birds flock together to feed.



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 Chasing During the breeding season one or more male Blue Whales may chase a female. The image below was taken of two Blue Whales engaged in a high speed chase and breaching.



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 Calluses • Adult females are believed to be the ones that show calluses. Adult males have them? • The calluses are a secondary sexual characteristic.


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 Chorus Lines • Some whales and dolphins such as Sperm Whales and Spinner Dolphins form waves or chorus lines when they feed.


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 Flank Formation tail rolls and side-fluking The sequence below shows the tail rolling and side-fluking which Blue Whales do when they are in courtship. The first documented sighting of this behavior off Sri Lanka was in April 2012. On this ocassion a whale would surface and tail roll and slip under the water to be followed by another. Based on studies done in the Pacific, the leading whale is believed to be the female.



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 Flank formation – tail roll A close up of a tail roll done during flank formation. Note that this is very different to the way Blue Whales fluke-up before a feeding dive. When they are feeding near the surface, the tails may come out at an angle. But flank formation behaviour is ritualised and unlikely to be confused with feeding when seen.



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 Fluking • Fluke-up or fluking is when whales bring up their tail at the start of a deep dive.


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 Fluke-print When whales dive (especially Blue Whales) they leave a clear circle of water on the surface known as a fluke-print, analogous to a land-animals footprint.



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 Head Raise • Sperm Whales are curious and will swim up to boats and raise their heads. May make it easier for them to build a sonar profile of occupants. • Not scientific, anthropomorphic and anecdotal, I seem to find them extra curious when children are on a boat.

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 Head-stand (Tail extension) • Holds tail aloft unlike a normal fluke-up on a feeding dive. Photographed during a bout of social behaviour.


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

Logging (Sperm Whale)

• Whales are ‘logging when they are traveling on the surface. • Sperm Whales are the elephants of the seas, found in closely knit social groups.


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 Photo Identification Scientists study individual whales by identifying them using patterns unique to each individual. With Sperm Whales the under-surface of tail flukes are used. With Blue Whales in studies in California, the body area including and around the dorsal fin is used. In Sri Lanka, as Blue Whales fluke around 90% of the time a methodology has been articulated in the Wild Blue project to use tail flukes.


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 Photo ID: Sri Lanka Blue Whale Photo ID Catalogue

This image catalogue represents the first public science photo ID catalogue in Sri Lanka. Its early days. But with your photographs, we can build this into an important scientific tool. Search for it on www.flikr.com

Wild Blue Photo ID of Sri Lankan Blue Whales

 Photo ID: Sri Lanka Blue Whale Photo ID Catalogue – on-line pdf

Email [email protected] to contribute or to receive a 40 page pdf of the project. Or Google on-line for

‘pdf Wild Blue Photo ID of Sri Lankan Blue Whales’

 Photo ID: Sri Lankan Orca Project •This is a low key parallel of the Wild Blue Photographic ID project. •Its low key as Orcas are scarce and recorded at most a few times in each year. It is believed that most of the records are from one or two pods which comprise of 24 individuals. •The project objectives are simple. •Build a list of all Orca sightings off Sri Lank and make it publicly available. •Build a photographic database of all individal Orcas recorded off Sri Lanka and make it publicly available.

Email [email protected] to contribute.

 Photo ID: Sri Lankan Orca Project •Over time a picture of the individuals which live around Sri Lankan waters will be built up by whale watchers submitting dates and location of sightings and images.

Left & top right: Marianne Taylor, Mirissa 2013 April 17 bottom right: Stephen Moss, Trincomalee 2012 Sep 03.

 Porpoising • Dolphins sometimes travel at high speed leaping out of the water as they travel. This is known as ‘porpoising’.


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 Predator and Prey: Defense • The largest toothed predator in the planet is hunted by a smaller predator that hunts in pods. The Orca or Killer Whale (derived from Killers of Whales) is a key predator of both Blue and Sperm Whales. Paul Hilton who took these images has amazingly seen them hunting both off Mirissa. In the picture below, the Sperm Whales form a defensive wall.


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 Predator and Prey: Attack • Sperm Whales lash out with their tails as a pod of 5-6 Orcas lunge into them.

Photo ID studies will help to confirm if this is the pod which is regularly seen of Sri Lanka.


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

Roll-over or Pectoral roll

• Photographed during active socializing.


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 Sexual dimorphism This means that the males and females show differences. In birds for example, males are more brightly coloured. Whales & dolphins show size differences. • In baleen whales (e.g. Blue Whales), females are larger. • In toothed whales (e.g. Sperm Whales), males are larger. A male Sperm Whale can be 50% bigger than a female and a 1/3rd longer.


Large mature female Sperm Whales can be mistaken for a male. 53

 Scrumming (Active socializing) • A few stills to show this behaviour but only underwater footage will do justice to this amazing behaviour. Sperm Whales in a pod interact with each other very intensely turning the sea into a froth.



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 Shark Fin Patrolling A form of side-fluking where the tip of one tail fin is dragged along a surface.



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 Shark-fin patrol (Side fluking, Shark-fluking) Female Sperm Whales were photographed doing this with each other. Its possible that the presence of a male may trigger this behaviour. Blue Whales also do a similar side-fluking behaviour in courtship in ‘flank formation behaviour as shown in another slide.


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 Solitary vs. Social Many of the toothed whales and dolphins (Odontocetes) are social (e.g. Spinner dolphins and Sperm Whales) in that they are seen as a group. Baleen whales like Blue Whales are seen usually seen alone unless its a mother with a calf (as with the picture below by Sampath Gunasinghe). Describing Blue Whales as solitary has more to do with humans and whales having different physical scales of what being social is. Baleen Whales can communicate with other whales which are hundred of kilometres away. So a solitary Blue Whale may be no more solitary than a person seated in a cafe talking to another person seated across a table.


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 Spinning • Spinner Dolphin - Can at times spin 8 times on axis generating a force of 4Gs on any attached parasites. No one knows exactly why they do it. It could be a display of ‘fitness’ or an attempt to dislodge parasites.


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 Spinning (Parasite removal) • The images below by Ashan Seneviratne (Kalpitiya) and Georgina Gemmell (Trincomalee) demonstrate that at least one purpose of spinning is to dislodge animals such as Remoras.


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 Splashguard Blue Whale showing splashguard which helps prevent water entering lungs.


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 Spy hopping •Many whales & dolphins spy hop, often to get a better view of what is around. •Spy hopping by female Sperm Whales increase when males are around. Why exactly is not understood as they communicate underwater using ‘clicks’.




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 Streamlining • Cetaceans use micro folds on the skin to reduce drag and streamline movement. It works like ‘non-stick’ . Look at the smooth laminar flow of water around the Spinner Dolphin in the image below.


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 Super-pods •Super-pods form when several pods aggregate to feed or for social reasons. Sri Lanka is the best chance for a super-pod of Sperm Whales on a commercial whale watch.

14 Sperm Whales are in this picture taken by Riaz Cader off Mirissa

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

Sperm Whale Super-pods

• Sri Lanka is the best chance of seeing a super-pod of Sperm Whales on a commercial whale watch. A table of recent records are shown below. Summary of Sperm Whale Super-pod (n>40) Records as at 14 April 2013 Count of Location Location Year Kalpitiya 2010 1 2011 2012 5 2013 2 Grand Total 8

Mirissa

Mullaitivu 1 4 1 4 10

Trincomalee 1 1 20 1

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Grand Total 3 5 26 6 40

The Sperm Whale super-pod encounters table compiled by Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne includes data contibuted by Nilantha Kodithuwakku, Buddika Dhayarathne, Ranil Nanayakkara, Anoma Alagiyawadu, Ashan Seneviratne, Maithri Liyanage, Tony Wu, Riaz Cader, Ashan Seneviratne, Vanessa Williams-Grey, Andrew Sutton and Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne.

Key References 1. de Silva Wijeyeratne. G. (2012). Sri Lanka Best Chance for Sperm Whale Super-pods . Sunday T imes: Sri Lanka. Sunday T imes Plus. Sunday 05 August 2012. Features. Page 6. 2. de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2012). June 2012. A Guide to Sperm Whale Behaviour and Sri Lanka’s Super Pods. Hi Magazine. Series 10, Volume 1. Pages 167 – 170.

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 Synchronized Diving • Sperm Whales synchronize diving. Could be anti-predator behavior with young. Sometimes they dive at the same time. Adults have a follower or leader pattern.


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 Synchronized diving • Another example. This could be a juvenile going down at the same time with an adult.


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 Tails-slapping Cetaceans do this regularly. Multi-purpose. I have seen it during socializing and for aggression, a warning to ‘keep-away’.


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 Thermo-regulation Cetaceans dilate their blood vessels near the skin to lose heat by radiation. As the skin is translucent, the dilated blood vessels show up as pink flush. The picture below by Georgina Gemmell shows the clearly the pink flush. Note also how it is attempting to dislodge a remora by spinning.


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 Vertical suspension Sometimes Sperm Whales hang vertically with just the blow hole out of the water.



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Part 04

Responsible Whale Watching


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Responsible Whale Watching A few tips for an improved experience and better photography.

•Let the animals come to you. •Blue and Sperm Whales are curious animals who are used to boats. If you keep your distance they may swim up to you or surface near the boat.

•Do not chase them from behind or approach them directly and close. As with most animals they will respond by moving away. •Keep your distance so that they are not stressed by your presence. Switch off the engine to reduce boat noise. © Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com

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 Myths about whales and whale watchers Some myths prevail. •For example that Blue Whales are shy and gone in a flash after they see you.

•Or that if a whale is close to a boat, it has to mean the whale watchers have got too close. Blue Whales and Sperm Whales are sentient creatures. They are used to boats in Sri Lankan water and surface close to boats, investigate them and swim under them. If boat drifts with its engine dead, whale get very close. I have had Blue Whales surface a few feet away from my boat and engage in courtship. I have seen Sperm Whales swim up to boats and nudge them. Sperm Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne Whales are like friendly, curious puppies, a habit shared©www.jetwingeco.com with young leopards. But never chase whales to get close. This will stress them.

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 Let the whales come to you In April 2012, a super-pod of Sperm Whales arrived in Kalpitiya. This coincided near perfectly with plans made weeks earlier by Ashan Seneviratne for me to continue publicising Kalpitiya for its Sperm Whales. This mages show a boat being investigated by a curious Sperm Whale. Images like this can often be misinterpreted as examples of whale watchers getting too close to the whales.


If you want a Sperm Whale to get this close, remember never to chase it or approach it directly. Keep a distance and give it the option to investigate you. It may raise its head and beam you with sonar.

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 Improving standards Although whales are curious animals who frequently approach boats, some criticisms of whale watching boats chasing whales are valid. David Loh emailed the following comment. ‘On that day this picture was taken, there were probably 12-14 whale watching boats around. It felt like a big race to get close to this pod of whales. They were basking on the surface but only stayed less than 10-15 minutes after being surrounded by the boats before they dived. I would say the boats boxed them in.

Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) are working with Sri Lankan Airlines and other partners to improve whale watching standards through © Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne their project www.jetwingeco.com ‘Blueprint’. 74

 Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) Cetacean Watching Code of Conduct Whales and dolphins are highly intelligent animals, sensitive to disturbance and can be hit by vessels, including their propellers. If they approach the boat or bow-ride, maintain a slow speed and course until clear. Dolphins should never be chased or harassed in an attempt to make them bow-ride. When watching whales and dolphins, always let them decide what happens. Please follow these simple guidelines: KEEP your distance. Never go closer than 100m (200m if another boat is present). NEVER drive head on to, or move between, scatter or separate whales or dolphins. If unsure of their movements, simply stop and put the engine into neutral. PLEASE spend no longer than 15 minutes near the animals.

SPECIAL care must be taken with mothers and young. MAINTAIN a steady direction and slow ‘no wake’ speed. © Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne NEVER try to swim with whales and dolphins for your safety and theirs. www.jetwingeco.com

DO NOT dispose of any rubbish, litter or contaminants at sea. 75

Conservation issues Several issues seriously impact whales.

•Pollution •Orcas and Sperm Whales for example are known to have high toxic levels in their bodies due to an accumulation of pollutants. Females often offload toxins onto the first born which dies. Male orcas become unable to breed. •Sound Pollution •For many whales sound is very important and used to communicate over long distances, over a thousand kilometres with Blue Whales. Noise from shipping impairs their ability to communicate. Submarine sonar is blamed for many mass stranding. © Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com

•Ship Strikes •Whales and dolphins are injured and at times killed by strikes with 76 ships and boats.

 Ship Strikes The seas South of Mirissa contains one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The image below taken by Joshua Barton off Mirissa was the second Blue Whale to die within 2-3 weeks in 2012, one being brought in earlier to the Colombo port on the prow of a ship.

Later, on 23 September 2012 dead Blue Whale and her calf washed shore. No biposies are known to have been carried out. whales sick due to high toxins loads will be more vulnerable to ship strikes. 77

 Ship Strikes: How bad is the problem? 4 Blue Whales died between March and April 2012. However, a log of ship strikes was not publicly available to assess the average frequency over the years. Mitigation – Slow Downs There may a reluctance to damage the shipping industry by moving the sea routes further out. But with intelligent lobbying, Sri Lanka may be willing to call for a reduction in speed in zones where whales are found in high densities. ‘Slow downs’ have found to be effective in North America

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Part 05:

Taking your interest further


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Taking your interest further If you enjoyed your whale watch and would like to learn more, a few organizations with an international membership are listed below. A collection of articles which helped to develop whale watching in Sri Lanka can be accessed on www.wht.lk or using a web browser to search for a compilation on google docs. •Marine Life, www.marine-life.org.uk

•Marine Life Conservation Society, www.mcsuk.org •Orca, www.orcaweb.org.uk •The Society for Marine Mammalogy, www.marinemammalscience.org

•Whale and Dolphin Conservation, www.wdcs.org


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 Key Articles: Marine The following articles can be found on-line. Marine Wildlife de Silva Wijeyeratne . G. (2012). Sri Lanka Best Chance for Sperm Whale Super-pods. Sunday Times: Sri Lanka. Sunday Times Plus. Sunday 05 August 2012. Features. Page 6. de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2011). Longest and Best for Blue. The Sunday Times Plus. Sunday 04 September 2011. Features. Page 6.

http://sundaytimes.lk/110904/Plus/plus_08.html de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2010). Off to see seabirds. The Sunday Times Plus. Sunday 2 May 2010. Features. Page 6.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100502/Plus/plus_15.html de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2010). Why Kalpitiya is Sri Lanka's top spot for pelagic seabirds. Hi Magazine. Series 8, Volume 1. Pages 228-231.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/birds/asian-pelagics.html de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2010). Kalpitiya joins Sri Lanka's whale spots. The Sunday Times Plus. Sunday 07 March 2010. Features. Page 4.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100307/Plus/plus_13.html de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2009). Best for Blue - One Year On. Serendib, the in-flight magazine of Sri Lankan. November - December 2009. Pages 50-53.

de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2008). Best of Blue. Serendib, the in-flight magazine of Sri Lankan. © Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne November - December 2008. Pages 42-46. www.jetwingeco.com

de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2008). Best for Blue. Is Sri Lanka the world's top spot for seeing blue and sperm whales? May 2008. Open Release Article.

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 Key Articles: Other wildlife Big Game de Silva Wijeyeratne. G. (2013). A winner in the wilds [Is Sri Lanka the best allround wildlife destination in the world?]. Sunday Times: Sri Lanka. Sunday Times Plus. Page 3. Sunday 13 January 2013. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130113/plus/a-winner-in-the-wilds-28039.html de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2010). Our Big Five. Why Sri Lanka is the Best for Big Game Safaris outside Africa. The Sunday Times Plus. Sunday 18 October 2010. Features. http://sundaytimes.lk/101017/Plus/plus_23.html de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2010). Sri Lanka's Big Five. Hi Magazine. Series 8, Volume 2. September 2010. Pages 198-202. de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2010). Sri Lanka: The Ultimate Island Safari. Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Colombo. e Edition. 16 pages. A4. de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2009). Leopard Safaris. How the Leopard’s spots were changed to Eco Dollars. Hi Magazine. March 2009. Series 7, Volume 1. Page 154156. ISSN 1800-0711. The development and branding of Leopard Safaris in Sri Lanka. de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2008). The Gathering – a billion Rupees of elephants. Hi Magazine. December 2008. Series 6, Volume 5. Pages 202-204. ISSN 1800-0711.

Specialist Wildlife de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2009). The Sinharaja Bird Wave. Hi Magazine.©May Gehan2009. de Silva Wijeyeratne www.jetwingeco.com Series 7, Volume 2. Page 146-147. ISSN 1800-0711. de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2010). Butterfly Safaris: The development of photographic guides. Hi Magazine. Series 8, Volume 3. Pages 242-243. de Silva Wijeyeratne, G. (2009). The Dragons of Lanka. Hi Magazine. August 2009. 82 Series 7, Volume 3. Page 182-183. ISSN 1800-0711.

 The Author & Photographer  Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne’s realisation and field-work based publicity campaign (which began in May 2008) that Sri Lanka was Best for Blue Whale, was pivotal in establishing commercial whale watching in Sri Lanka. He has introduced into wider use the concept of the Three Es (Encounter Rate, Time & Zone) and his publicity in May 2008 of a 90% encounter rate for Blue Whales was crucial for the rapid take-up by the media and travel industry. He also branded Sri Lanka as being best for super-pods of Sperm Whales (August 2012) and the best chance of a Blue and Sperm Whale on the same sailing. He also publicised the extension of the commercial whale watching season in Trincomalee (September 2011) and established Kalpitiya as a hot spot for Sperm Whales and pelagic seabirds (March & May 2010). With 25 whale watching articles in print (several groundbreaking), he has done more than anyone to publicise whale watching in Sri Lanka. In January 2013 he publicised that Sri Lanka has a strong claim to the world’s best all-round wildlife destination. He can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn and Flickr.

 Acknowledgements Gehan’s educational and publicity work on whale watching is made possible by a number of people and corporates. Key corporate supporters have included Jetwing Eco Holidays, Jetwing Lighthouse, Dallas Martnestyn & his coinvestors in Barr Reef Resort (Alankuda) & Dolphin Beach, Nature Trails, Chaaya Blu, Little Adventures, Baywatch Eco Resort Village, Sanmira Renaissance and Mirissa Water Sports. Many individuals have provided information and include Dr. Charles Anderson, Anoma Alagiyawadu, Riaz Cader, Buddhika Dayarathne, Nilantha Kodituwakku, Ashan Seneviratne, Chitral Jayatilake and Ranil Nanayakkara. Many others are more fully acknowledged in his books and articles. Several interns helped over the years in starting up this pack. Photographers who helped are individually credited with their pictures.

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Sri Lanka: The best all-round wildlife destination in the world

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