Details of EDUMAR Research
Objectives:
1. To explore and document how local people as well as tourists and people in the marine tourism industry and sciences understand the sea and sea life in the Azores.
2. To understand the educational aspects of whale watching and other marine tourism activities on both the tourist and the local population in the Azores.
3. To compare the perspectives of the sea and marine tourism held by the people in the Azores, Portugal with the perspectives of people in Newfoundland, Canada.
Research Activities
WP1 Status of whale watching in the Azores and related education and research activities: To understand the current level of tourism related to cetaceans within the Azores and the related educational and research activities connected to this tourism.
WP2 Survey of tourists on whale watching tours: To understand where tourists learn about cetaceans and the sea, why they go whale watching and how these trips affect their understandings and attitudes toward cetaceans and the sea. more information
WP3 Survey of local perceptions about the sea, cetaceans and whale watching: To understand where the general public learn about cetaceans and the sea, if they regularly go to the sea, if they encounter cetaceans and what they think about whale watching. more information
WP4 Interviews with people who work with cetaceans and marine activities connected with cetaceans: To understand some of the underlying motivations, values and perspectives of people who work closely with cetaceans and in other marine activities.
WP5 Stories, songs, art, science and conversations about the sea and sea life between community members in the Azores: To explore understandings and attitudes toward marine life within communities in the Azores, by organizing an art and science workshop with community members in Lajes do Pico, during which time images, conversations and stories of participants will be recorded with cameras, audio and video recorders.
WP6 Stories, songs, art, science and conversations about the sea and sea life between community members in Newfoundland, Canada: To explore understandings and attitudes toward marine life within communities in rural Newfoundland.
Project Summary:
By comparing the Azores, Portugal with Newfoundland, Canada, this project explores global influences as well as local cultural heritage on the development of perceptions of the sea. By interacting with multiple stakeholders and taking a community arts approach, this research project also creates educational and community development opportunities which promotes and safeguards local cultural history. Marine tourism, such as whale watching and swimming with dolphins has grown rapidly around the world in the last ten years. It is promoted as an environmentally sound way to conserve Cetaceans, educate people and sustain local economies in communities often formerly dependent on whale hunting and collapsed fisheries. Concern for the animals has led governments to impose regulations on the industry including licensing tour operators and guidelines on interacting with the animals. Research has started to explore the effect of this tourism on the animals; there is concern that these activities disturb and potentially harm the animals. Studies show that tour operators are not fully compliant with the guidelines and tourists are not always aware of these rules. Operators assume that getting close to the animals is the prime motivation of the tourists. However, little research has been done on the motivation of the tourists, their perceptions and attitudes toward the marine environment and how this experience influences their perceptions and attitudes. Much research has been done on general environmental attitudes and behaviour, but the use of simplistic assumptions about the static nature of understandings has limited the usefulness of these studies which have been largely based on scales with standard quantitative measures. This project focuses on the complexity of understanding, and the dynamic ways that ideas and attitudes develop while it explores human perceptions and attitudes around whales, dolphins, tourism and the sea. It explores the interactions between differing ideas and how differing worldviews may influence one another. It takes a narrative approach to hear the voices of tour operators, former whalers, scientists, tourists, and local populations who may or may not go on whale watching trips.