NOUMEA (Oceania Flash) — A so-called “Operation Whale” is beginning this week in New Caledonia to better understand the migratory movement of the marine mammals through the French Pacific territory, the daily newspaper Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes reports.
In New Caledonia, whales are known to spend some weeks of the year in the south of the main island.
The study is expected to provide information that could lead to a code of ethics for whale-watching, an increasingly significant industry in New Caledonia, as well as in neighboring Tonga, Fiji and other Pacific island countries.
Another Pacific territory, French Polynesia, recently declared its exclusive economic zone a whale sanctuary. It also introduced a similar code of conduct specifying minimum distance for watching vessels to keep away from the mammals.
In New Caledonia, registered tourism boat operators have complained about the growing numbers of chartered yachts operating in the area.
Scientist Claire Garrigue said whales visible in the South Pacific usually spend the first quarter of the year in the Antarctic Ocean, where they feed on small shrimps and build their fat reserves. The migration movement to the South Pacific takes place later in the year, when the whales go South to breed.
In order to better study these movements, scientists believe the couples must not be disturbed by whale-watching vessels, hence the proposed code of ethics.
Garrigue said this year, the Operation Whale will focus on the Bay of Prony, south of New Caledonia, but further also in the Chesterfield islands, northwest of the main island.
