Jaime Bolaños-Jiménez

Empowering local communities for responsible development of whalewatching in the central coast of Venezuela

LocationCountryCategoriesDate
“Ocumare de la Costa de Oro”, State of Aragua, VenezuelaCentral and Latin America, Ecotourism11 Nov 2007

Ecotourism and Whalewatching have grown steadily during the last years. Accordingly, concerns about the welfare of natural populations have also increased. In order to ensure the industry´s sustainability, a number of guidelines and regulations have been outlined by researchers, stakeholders and resource managers. On the other side, scientific research performed between 1996-2007 have demonstrated that the State of Aragua, in the central coast of Venezuela, counts on potential for development of whalewatching activities. Target species include the Atlantic spotted (Stenella frontalis) and the bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) dolphins and Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera edeni). The encounter rate with cetaceans is approximately 70%. On the basis of this scientific foundation and the guidelines in the “National Strategy of Biological Diversity and its Action Plan”, it is expected that -in the short term- whalewatching in this region is going to start at a commercial level. For this program to be sustainable, participation of local community is paramount. Local hosts, naturalist guides, tour operators and stakeholders need to count on skills, knowledge and abilites to be able to offer “high quality whalewatching” to tourists.

The purpose of the present project is to systematically empower local communities and stakeholders for responsible development of whalewatching and management of their natural resources. A series of training seminars on the value and importance on local ecosystems and cetacean species, guidelines for responsible whalewatching, species identification, good commercial practices, legal aspects and code of conduct, leadership and field trips will be designed and offered to: 1) educators, 2) stakeholders and entrepreneurs and 3) students and profesionals in universities of the State of Aragua. On this basis and with active participation of trained educators, sensitizing activities and ecological games will be designed and presented to local children. Finally, in order to guarantee the scientific monitoring on the status of cetacean populations and the effect of this activity on them, a field research project will be re-started aimed to improve the knowledege about local cetaceans.

For more information contact megapterax@yahoo.com

Project Update: November 2007

Jaime was the invited lecturer to present a speech on whalewatching in Venezuela at the "II International Conference on tourism and entertainment", held in the University UPEL in Maracay, State of Aragua, 2-4 November. The website of this meeting is: http://www.deporteyrecreacionupel.org/html/programa.asp

Additionally he was invited to present a short course (3 hours) on responsible whalewatching to be included amognst the teaching activities of the meeting. It was an excellent opportunity to officially start our project about Empowering local communities for responsible management of whalewatching and to aknowledge the Rufford Small Grant Foundation's support to our coming activities.

Project Update: July 2008

Biologist Jaime Bolaños and his team worked to empower local communities in Ocumare de la Costa de Oro regarding responsible whale-watching. Activities included lectures at local schools; training seminars; advising undergraduate and graduate students in Tourism; advising local educators in Tourism; participation in regional science and technology meetings; and participation in field trips to sensitize students on the importance of local marine-coastal ecosystems. A result of these activities is that the local community and stakeholders can count on a better foundation to environmentally-responsible dolphin-watching tours for visitors.

Highlights included:

· Lectures on cetacean conservation and ecotourism to students of the “Anzoátegui”, “Carlos Ramón Aponte” and “César Zumeta” schools and the Misión Sucre´s local “Aldea Universitaria”, with attendance of more than 130 pupils and teachers.

· A training seminar presented 17-19 May to 31 professionals and students of Tourism and Biology in the “UPEL Maracay” University.

· An agreement reached with the Center for Excursionists and the Science Center of the UPEL Maracay to present training seminars on a regular basis.

· Upon request by authorities of the UNEFA University in the city of Cagua, two undergraduate students of Tourism conducted professional internships under Jaime Bolaños’ guidance, in support of activities related to this project.

· Professional advice is being provided to local educators Profs. Cristina Castillo and Gerson Macía for their graduate research projects on “Tourism Management”. These colleagues are the coordinators of the Science Center for young scientists of the César Zumeta High School in Ocumare de la Costa de Oro. These young students participated 20-22 June in the “Festival of Science and Technology for High School students of the State of Aragua” hosted by Fundacite Aragua, the governmental agency for Development of Science and Technology in the State of Aragua (www.fundacite.arg.gov.ve). In the meeting, these students were awarded First Place and will participate in the National Festival representing the State of Aragua.

· Upon a request of the “Innovative Production Social Network for Ecotourism in Ocumare de la Costa de Oro” (a program of Fundacite Aragua and the People's Ministry for Science and Technology), scientific advice and training seminars on cetacean research and conservation and leadership will be provided to locals on a regular basis, in order for them to be able to operate more responsibly.

· Jaime Bolaños and his team participated as naturalists in four guided field trips organized by students of the UNEFA, Science Center of the César Zumeta School, CEUPEL-UPEL Maracay and Swimming Club “Tiburones”. Participants learned about the importance of local mangrove forests, marine-coastal ecosystems, cetaceans, and cloud forests of the Henri Pittier National Park.

· As expected, field trips confirmed the presence of Atlantic spotted and bottlenose dolphins (Stenella frontalis and Tursiops truncatus, respectively); Photographs taken during these surveys were incorporated in two catalog for individual identification of dolphins in the region. Photographs of Atlantic spotted dolphins were incorporated in a catalog under curatorship of biologists Olga Herrera, María Gabriela Silva and Jaime Bolaños. Photographs of bottlenose dolphins were provided to Biologist Sergio Cobarrubia and will be used as part of his Masters's research on the bio-ecological aspects of the bottlenose dolphin off Aragua State.


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