Rodrigo Garcia Pingaro

Promoting a Sanctuary for Whales: Habitat Conservation and Education of Southern Right Whale in Coastal Communities Uruguay

Children preparing before the exposition in their school.

Children presenting a SANCTUARY proposal in a departmental parliamentary authorities (Junta departamental de Maldonado).

The WHALE SANCTUARY project include awareness, preliminaries actions (good marine practices), education for all coastal marine stakeholders, including authorities, politicians, fishermen, tour operators and people in general. The Right Whale Sighting Network created and strengthened in recent years has been very important to obtain information and prevent threats to whales. The SANCTUARY proposal was supported by the government since 2000 (Ministry of Environment) and now for all coastal children’s, younger’s and state authorities who declared a “Sanctuary on Maldonado Bay”.

Major activities planned

The actions toward the creation of SANCTUARY and conserving the entire habitat marine, we will be made through:

• Audiovisual presentations and workshops in the localities to address more childrens and youngers to promoting them;

• Interviews and meetings with authorities, tour operators, fishermen;

• Complete information should be provided in several formats;

• Adopt Good Marine Environment Practices: adopt by whale watching boats, recreational and tourism boats; with national and local authorities participation and support, creating a sticker distinctive called “Responsible Tourism”;

• At last, we must generate a Public Campaigns, which will include presentations of the “defenders of the sea” on Parliament, Press, Festivals, their artistic draws and legends, addressed to government authorities and the public in general.

These include the participation of children’s living so far from the coast and never had seen the ocean. The principal issue to make “the change and greater impact” are: carried on school children’s who live far from the sea, to see whales and the sea that never seen before in their lives. This can make a greater difference to the talks made before and others channels of communication. The press can generate and campaigning that big step for the life’s of children’s. After that the Sanctuary can support by a lot of schools of the country.

Read about Rodrigo's previous work http://www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/rodrigo_garcia_pingaro or for further information contact rodrigo@occ.org.uy or visit www.occ.org.uy