Brazil Whale and dolphin watching country profile

Extent of whale and dolphin watching 

Whale watching in Brazil began in the Abrolhos Marine National Park, Southern Bahia State, in 1988, with the first tours being offered to watch humpback whales.  In 2001 whale watching tours were established in Praia do Forte where they subsequently spread to several other small coastal cities along the coast of Bahia.  Here whale watching activity rapidly increased from 70 participants in 2001 to 2,494 in 2009.

Whale watching focusing on southern right whales was initiated in the 1990s in the state of Santa Catarina. A Marine Protected Area was created there in 2000 and strict regulations for whale watching were established. In 2012, some areas of the MPA were closed to whale watching vessels, allowing only land-based viewing.

Today humpback whales and right whales still form the focus of most commercial whale watching activities, while dolphin viewing tends to take place more opportunistically alongside other wildlife tourism activities.

Target species, peak times of year and locations:

Below is a brief summary of where whales can be observed at different times of year along the Brazilian coast. Note that the months indicated are peak times for migrating whales, but that dolphins can generally be observed year-round.

Return to Top ↑

Conservation status

Of the six species targeted for tourism, four are considered threatened according to the Brazilian Official National List of Endangered Fauna. This list is based on the risk assessment of extinction carried out in 2014 by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (the Brazilian Ministry of Environment’s administrative agency). The southern right whale and the pink river dolphin are classified as “Endangered” and the Guiana dolphin as “Vulnerable”. The humpback whale is classified as "Near Threatened" (NT), a category that contains species not considered threatened at the moment, but which are likely to qualify as threatened in the near future.  Although humpback whales off the coast appear to be increasing, the population is still only a fraction of its pre-whaling size and is facing new threats from climate change, vessel traffic, fisheries, and offshore oil and gas development off the coast of Brazil.

Furthermore, both humpback whales and right whales are visiting Brazil’s coastlines to give birth and nurse their young, a time in their life cycle when both mothers and calves are vulnerable to disturbance.  The target species’ precarious conservation status and vulnerability to disturbance should always be taken into account in the context of whale watching tourism in order to ensure that this does not place another pressure on already threatened populations.

Return to Top ↑

Regulations and guidelines

Act No. 444/2014 of the Ministry of the Environment of Brazil determines the "Official National List of Endangered Fauna," including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and terrestrial invertebrates, and indicates the degree of extinction risk of each species.  This offers certain protections to the species with endangered or threatened status.

Currently Federal Law 7643/87 forbids the hunting and harassment of cetaceans in Brazilian waters and the Edict 117/96 (modified by the Edict 24/2002) established the whale watching regulations.  ccording to this Edict all vessels operating in Brazilian jurisdictional waters are forbidden to: 

• approach any whale species (cetaceans of the order Mysticeti, sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus, and orca Orcinus orca) closer than 100 meters of the nearest animal, with engines operating.  Engines must be in neutral when approaching humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae, and turned off or in neutral for other species; 
• resume engine operation to depart from the whale only after clearly sighting the whale(s) at the surface, or in a distance of at least 50 meters from the vessel; 
• chase any whale, with engine operating, for more than 30 minutes, even when respecting the above mentioned distances; 
• interrupt the path of any cetacean of any species, or try to direct or alter its movement; 
• intentionally penetrate a group of cetaceans of any species, dividing or dispersing it; 
• make excessive noises, such as music, any kind of percussion, or others beyond those generated by the normal operation of the vessel, when less than 300m from any cetacean; 
• dump overboard any sort of detritus, substance or materials when less than 500m from any cetaceans, in addition to all other pollutant dumping prohibitions contained in the laws;
• approach an individual or group of whales if approached by at least two other vessels at the same time

In September 2000, the right whales’ primary habitat in Santa Catarina was protected by the Right Whale Environmental Protection Area (EPA).  This area is now an the focus of right whale conservation and research, with certain sections of the area closed to tourism and others well managed and regulated¹.

The Brazilian National Sanctuary of Whales and Dolphins was created in 2008. New regulations drafted by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation are awaiting official publication. These aim to establish more rigorous guidelines and procedures for the authorization and development of activities involving intentional interactions with cetaceans and manatees in Brazilian jurisdictional waters.

Whale-watching tourism will also be included in the new National Conservation Action Plans (NAPs) for small and large cetaceans, with a view to finding solutions and proposals to address conservation concerns, such as:

• Creating more targeted and specific legal instruments to regulate the whale watching activity at a national level;
• Improving monitoring and supervision of whale watching tour operators and activity;
• Establishing environmental licensing and/or tour operator certification systems for whale watching activity;
• Improving capacity building for the development of whale watching activity;
• Establishing exclusion areas along the Brazilian coast, as in the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha and in the coast of Santa Catarina State;
• Requiring whale-watch operators to contribute to conservation and research through data-sharing on target species, and partnerships with universities and research institutions.

The government, in partnership with the Federal Conservation Units, will also be initiating a campaign to promote land-based whale watching. This approach has the advantage of being freely accessible to a greater number of people than the boat-based observation, as well as eliminating the risk of disturbance to the target species.  

Return to Top ↑

Research on whale watching in Brazil

A recent review of whale watching in Brazil highlighted the potential benefits and negative impacts of whale watching on target animals and communities².  Research conducted on the effects of boat traffic noise on humpback whales in the Abrolhos National Marine Park concluded that vessel noise led to a decrease in male humpback whale singing³.  Because humpback whale song is believed to play an important role in breeding⁴,  the authors strongly recommend that the number of vessels and the time that vessels are allowed to be present around whales should be limited to avoid negative impacts on their breeding success. Studies on the behaviour of humpback whale mothers and calves around the Abrolhos Archipelago showed that differences in humpback whale mother and calf behaviour occurred mostly in the presence of vessels within distances of 100-300m. Mothers increased linearity and mean speed of movement; decreased blow intervals and time spent resting. Calves exhibited less rolling, fluke-ups and other active behavioural events, as well as diminished resting time. During interaction with vessels, the frequency of potentially important behaviours, both for mothers and calves, reduced, probably as a response to the approaching whale watching vessels. Repeated short-term behavioural disturbances might lead to cumulative effects that may result in risks for species conservation⁹.

Research is ongoing in the right whale EPA in Santa Catarina, with rigorous monitoring of tour boat numbers in relation to whale distribution and population trends¹.  For the time being, whale watching does not appear to be having a negative impact at population level, as numbers of whales using the area continue to increase^1,5, but the government is proceeding with great caution to ensure that the population continues to be protected from any negative impact from whale watching – especially when other potential threats such as those from fisheries⁶ are known to impact the whales.

Research conducted on estuarine dolphins Sotalia guianensis in two different sites in Brazil concluded that boat approaches were likely to cause dolphins to group together more tightly and to dive for longer periods⁷, but that the manner in which boats approached dolphins could elicit very different responses, with dolphins displaying “positive” responses when vessels approached slowly and maintained appropriate distances, and ‘negative’ responses when boats approached too quickly and to within less than 50 metres⁸.

This research has helped to shape Brazil’s guidelines and management of whale watching activities.

Research conducted on estuarine dolphins Sotalia guianensis in two different sites in Brazil concluded that boat approaches were likely to cause dolphins to group together more tightly and to dive for longer periods⁷, but that the manner in which boats approached dolphins could elicit very different responses, with dolphins displaying “positive” responses when vessels approached slowly and maintained appropriate distances, and ‘negative’ responses when boats approached too quickly and to within less than 50 metres⁸.

This research has helped to shape Brazil’s guidelines and management of whale watching activities.

Return to Top ↑