Whale and Dolphin Watching Course

On completion of this Lecture, you will have a broad understanding of the History behind commercial whaling in the world, and the devastating impact it had on cetaceans on a global scale. This is important to kmnow and understand as it makes compliance with rules and regulations more palatable and justifiable, and is also a topic many tourists ask about and look to operators to provide such information.

The movements, behaviours and habitats of all marine creatures, including cetaceans, are influenced by the continental land masses of the world. You will have a reasonable knowledge and understanding of these land masses and how they impact on the well being of marine creatures, and to enable you to establish the local influences in your area of operation.

On completion of this lecture you should have a good understanding of the Oceans and Seas of the world, and their influences on marine life. Temperatures, salinity and movements of water around the planet cause changes in water characteristics and the habitats of the various marine and coastal species, which can be critical to the success of Cetacean Watching operations in various areas.

You will learn the nature and flow of the important and major ocean currents of the world. These currents are the powerhouses of the world, driving water around the globe, distributing temperatures and nutrients, and thus affecting everything - the oceans, coasts, weather, climate, temperatures, nutrients and species. Many cetaceans use or rely on these massive movements of water for migration to their feeding, breeding and calving grounds, following the changing temperatures and food sources around the world.

This video is repetitive in places, but shows you the important inter-relationships between the continents, oceans and coasts and the ocean currents of the world. You need to know what causes these environments to change and flourish, and why certain species are found in some areas and not in others.

We have already introduced you to the oceans, ocean currents and the continents. This video give you some insights into the different coastal configurations, their importance to the species and thus their important to the tourist. Many questions will be asked when offshore, and this knowledge needs to be incorporated into your overall expertise.

With the hundreds of thousands of species in the world, it is difficult to group them into manageable lots of interest. The group of cetaceans consist of over 100 different species, and you will never see them all. However it is good to know how they are grouped together and the nomenclature used.

In this lecture we explain how species, whether plants, animals, birds, reptiles or insects ar named and grouped into different families and orders.

During and Whale or dolphin Watching Trip, it can be a laborious process keeping your clients interested and looking out for cetaceans. Since sightings are not guaranteed, you need to give them some eother experiences while searching, and usually a lot of other species are encountered. These can be seals, sharks, fish and even sea birds which can distract the clients. However, to do this you also need to know something about these species, and this Lecture is to give you some ideas.

The environment is all important and you need some knowledge and understanding of how the marinbe environment works. In this lecture we look briefly at various aspects of Ecosystems including Endemic Species, Biodiversity, Habitats, Food chains and Food Webs and of course Sustainability.

The lecture does not want to make an expert of you, but to give you enough information to understand what is going on, to discuss environmental issues in an interesting way with your clients, and maybe lead you to doing further research on your own.

There are still very many threats to cetaceans that you need to be aware of. Your clients will expect you to be able to discuss this matter with some authority.

Operating in the marine environment, you need to understand and adhere to conservation principles and do what you can to ensure protection of the environment as well as the species in it. To do this you need to understand the threats the marine creatures face on an ongoing basis, and try to help wherever possible.