Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity, but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes. A study prepared for International Fund for Animal Welfare in 2009 estimated that 13 million people went whale watching globally in 2008. Whale watching generates $2.1 billion per annum in tourism revenue worldwide, employing around 13,000 workers. The size and rapid growth of the industry has led to complex and continuing debates with the whaling industry about the best use of whales as a natural resource.
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, 418 kilometres (260 mi) southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a part of King George Sound. The central business district is bounded by Mount Clarence to the east and Mount Melville to the west. The city is in the local government area of the City of Albany. While it is the oldest colonial, although not European, settlement in the territory that today is Western Australia, predating Perth and Fremantle by over two years, it was a semi-exclave of New South Wales for over four years until it was made part of the Swan River Colony.
There have been several cases of exploding whale carcasses due to a buildup of gas in the decomposition process. This would occur if a whale decides to strand itself ashore. Actual explosives have also been used to assist in disposing of whale carcasses, ordinarily after towing the carcass out to sea, and as part of a beach cleaning effort. It was reported as early as 1928, when an attempt to preserve a carcass failed due to faulty chemical usages.
This article discusses the history of whaling from prehistoric times up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. Whaling has been an important subsistence and economic activity in multiple regions throughout human history. Commercial whaling dramatically reduced in importance during the 19th century due to the development of alternatives to whale oil for lighting, and the collapse in whale populations. Nevertheless, some nations continue to hunt whales even today.
King George Sound is a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Named King George the Third's Sound in 1791, it was referred to as King George's Sound from 1805. The name "King George Sound" gradually came into use from about 1934, prompted by new Admiralty charts supporting the intention to eliminate the possessive 's' from geographical names.
The following lists events that happened during 1978 in Australia.
Originally a whaling station, Tangalooma Island Resort is a resort on the west side of Moreton Island in Queensland, Australia. It lies on the eastern shore of Moreton Bay and is known for its resort accommodation, dolphin-feeding program, sand dunes and wreck diving. Swimming is popular along the white beaches. It has a population of over 300 and receives more than 3,500 visitors every week as it is about 70 minutes from Brisbane by express catamaran. Moreton Island National Park covers 98% of the island, though there are three small townships including Bulwer, Kooringal and Cowan Cowan. The adjacent waters are protected as the Moreton Bay Marine Park. Tangalooma is the aboriginal word meaning "where the fish gather".
Whaling in Australian waters began in 1791 when five of the 11 ships in the Third Fleet landed their passengers and freight at Sydney Cove and then left Port Jackson to engage in whaling and seal hunting off the coast of Australia and New Zealand. The two main species hunted by such vessels in the early years were right and sperm whales. Humpback, bowhead and other whale species would later be taken.
Whaling was one of the first viable industries established in the Swan River Colony following the 1829 arrival of British settlers to Western Australia. The industry had numerous ups and downs until the last whaling station closed in Albany in 1978.
Cockle Creek is the farthest point south one can drive in Australia. It is located on Recherche Bay on the edge of the Southwest National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Commercial whaling in New Zealand waters began late in the 18th century and continued until 1965. It was a major economic activity for Europeans in New Zealand in the first four decades of the 19th century. Nineteenth-century whaling was based on hunting the southern right whale and the sperm whale and 20th-century whaling concentrated on the humpback whale.
Við Áir is a former whaling station on the east coast of Streymoy in the Faroe Islands, near the village Hvalvík.
Whale watching in Australia is a popular recreational pursuit and a tourist activity along various coasts. In 2008, whale and dolphin watching was worth an estimated A$31 million in direct expenditure to the Australian economy with an estimated 1.6 million tourists participating in the activity. Humpback whales are the most common species seen in the waters surrounding Australia while southern right whales, minke whales and blue whales are also seen.
George Cheyne was an early settler in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
Doubtful Islands are a group of three small islands located approximately 3 kilometres (2 mi) offshore of Point Hood and approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Bremer Bay in Western Australia.
John Moir was a settler and pastoralist in the areas to the east of Albany, in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
Fanny Nicholson was an iron-framed, timber-clad barque that sank in 1872 in Frenchman's Bay in King George Sound near Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
Commercial whaling in Britain began late in the 16th century and continued after the 1801 formation of the United Kingdom and intermittently until the middle of the 20th century.
Russian whaling has been conducted by native peoples in the Chukotka region of Russia since at least 4,000 years ago by native Yupik and Chukchi people, but commercial whaling did not begin until the mid-19th century, when companies based in Finland sent out vessels to the Pacific. It was not until 1932 that modern pelagic whaling began to take off with the purchase of an American cargo ship which was renamed the Aleut, which was the only Soviet factory ship until World War II. After the war, with the need for a stronger Soviet economy and rapid industrialization of the country during the 1940s and 1950s, Soviet whaling took off and became a truly global industry. The first Soviet whalers reached the Antarctic during the 1946–47 season with the factory ship Slava and then underwent a rapid expansion during the late 1950s in which 5 new fleets were added within a 4-year span: Sovetskaya Ukraina in 1959, Yuriy Dolgorukiy in 1960, and Sovetskaya Rossiya in 1961 for the Antarctic, and finally two large fleets in 1963 for the North Pacific. Thus, by the early 1960s Soviet whaling had truly become a global industry, operating in every ocean except the North Atlantic and undertaking voyages that could last as long as seven months each. From 1964 to 1973, the Soviet Union was considered by some the biggest whaling nation in the world.
Taroona Beach is a popular beach destination along the River Derwent in Taroona, Hobart, Tasmania. The south facing beach looks directly out to Storm Bay and the Tasman Sea, with views of the Derwent estuary, the City of Clarence on the eastern shore, Opossum Bay, South Arm, the Alum Cliffs and northern tip of Bruny Island. Taroona Beach is situated between Hinsby Beach and Crayfish Point, home of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Centre for the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. Taroona Beach contains a boat ramp and is backed by Taroona Park which contains bathroom facilities, a skate park, scout hall, the Taroona Tennis Club, and the Taroona Bowls and Community Club.
