St. Lucia achieved its independence within the British Commonwealth in 1979. Even more than most other former Caribbean colonies, St. Lucia has a somewhat schizophrenic cultural history, having changed hands 14 times between the French and British. Most of the people are of African descent; the official language and government traditions are English; but the culture is French Creole. St. Lucia is a mountainous, verdant island with volcanic peaks and lush, fertile valleys. The magnificent centrepiece is some 19,000 acres (7,700 ha) of tropical rain forest maintained in forest and nature reserves.

To date, more than most other Eastern Caribbean countries, St. Lucia has relied on agriculture as an economic mainstay. Unfortunately, that agriculture was bananas which alone provided 70% of export earnings and employed 40% of St. Lucia's people. With the World Trade Organisation demanding that EU quotas on bananas must be lifted, St. Lucia's farmers will no longer be able to compete with the big growers in Latin America. The writing has been on the wall for a few years and meantime St. Lucia has worked hard to expand its tourism industry to fill

the anticipated void. Compared to many neighbouring countries in the Caribbean, St. Lucia was slower to promote itself and to try to attract more tourists. It has only been seriously involved with tourism for fewer than 20 years, but now it is coming on strong, with numbers climbing every year. The greatest asset of the country is its largely unspoilt nature setting: the substantial tropical rain forest, the coral reefs and clear, clean Caribbean sea, and the wildlife both on land and marine — all of which are

proving more and more valuable as they rapidly disappear in the rest of the world. In terms of tourism infrastructure, St. Lucia offers numerous rustic, friendly lodgings as well as low-key luxury hotels. The island has considerable cultural appeal, with colonial French architecture, Native Indian artefacts, an excellent jazz festival, and the Creole culture which makes for good restaurants and Carnival celebrations. However, the negative side of the recent turn to tourism development is already starting to show itself. The newer 'all-inclusive' resorts — holiday compounds — totalled ten as of late 1998. These often British, American or Jamaican-owned operations bar non residents and encourage visitors to use only their facilities, alienating islanders and contributing little to the local economy. With the promotion of these sorts of resorts, and other investments, tourism has been criticised for not bringing enough benefits to rural residents. Some have suggested that it is just growing pains, and that fine-tuning of tourism industry directives will solve these and other problems. One part of the solution, begun in 1998, is the defining of a new tourism sector 'Nature Heritage Tourism'. Funded by the European Union and  the Government of St. Lucia, a three-year programme, called the St. Lucia Heritage Tourism Programme, has been designed to offer various kinds of economic, development and marketing assistance in order to promote nature/heritage tourism in local communities.

The expressed rationale is to ensure that the benefits from tourism are distributed more evenly throughout the island, especially to rural communities while ensuring minimal impact on natural resources. The overall aim is to make St. Lucia 'the most diversified and sustainable tourism destination in the Caribbean'. The recognition of the importance of maintaining nature as the backbone of this new directive is vital. This recognition of the importance of maintaining marine resources has contributed to the recent designation of some 23 modest-sized marine protected areas all around the island, mostly centering on coral reefs and mangroves. The Soufrière Marine Management Area, for example, which contains four different marine reserves, has a balanced, comprehensive programme modelled on the biosphere reserve concept which includes protection, management, and local education while allowing or some tourism and fishing development. Some of the reserves have populations of cetaceans as regular visitors, though official recognition of cetaceans has been slow to come. There is no listing for whale watching in the 98-page A4 colour glossy Visions St. Lucia 1998/99 Tourist Guide. In the comprehensive 36-page St. Lucia Marine Guide 1998/99, there is not even a single mention of a dolphin or whale, much less of 'whale watching'.

The most common cetaceans seen by boat year-round in St. Lucian waters are various dolphins, especially spinner and pantropical spotted, sighted from inshore to 2-3 miles offshore (3-5 km) and short-finned pilot whales some 3-20 miles (5-32 km) from shore. Sperm whales are also regularly seen off the northwest, west and southwest of the island, as well as false killer whales. Occasionally, Bryde's whales, as well as humpback whales (several 1999 sightings off the NE tip of the island), are seen in the period from January to April. The regular hunting of pilot whales has occurred mainly (though not entirely) on the south-western and eastern coasts of St. Lucia (away from the main tourism areas in the northwest); pilot whales and various dolphins have been landed regularly at the following ports: Soufrière, Choiseul, Laborie, Vieux Fort, Micoud, Dennery, as well as Castries, but most have been reported at Vieux Fort, at the southern tip of St. Lucia, in the latter part of the year. Pilot whales can also be seen (and are sometimes caught) out of the northwest and the peak period for sightings is November-December, though they have been seen in every month, often travelling in pods of 20 to 100 animals. There are other regular sightings and landings from hunts of rarer cetaceans, including dwarf and/or pygmy sperm whales, and possibly goosebeaked and Antillean beaked whales.

The reported sightings have been off the Pitons on the west side of St. Lucia out of the port of Soufrière, sometimes as close as a mile (1.6 km) from shore, especially during the months of April through July. According to St. Lucia's Chief Fisheries Officer, the best sites where cetaceans occur commonly and in fairly large numbers are in Soufrière Bay, on the southwest coast which has deep waters close to shore, and off northwest St. Lucia, from in the lee of the island to the waters between St. Lucia and Martinique. The second locale is closest to the main tourist area, although both are easily accessible on half-day boat trips.

A third location at Vieux Fort was not recommended, perhaps in part because it is a centre for dolphin hunting and is away from the main tourist areas, although the Maria Islands, off Vieux Fort, are a special attraction for nature lovers. Land-based sighting opportunities largely take advantage of the above three areas of cetacean concentration. Recommended are various spots along the west coast, in the lee of the island, especially from slightly elevated locations in the northwest from Castries to Gros Islet, including Pigeon Pointe. Also, at Anse Chastanet (near Soufrière), a number of dolphin and large whale sightings were recorded by Randall Reeves. Headlands and promontories around Vieux Fort and from the Maria Islands should also be investigated for possible land-based whale and dolphin watching. With tourists already coming for the diving and other marine activities, as well as for the nature offerings on land, a substantial whale and dolphin watching industry would seem to be a natural for St. Lucia. However, several problems have prevented the tours from becoming popular to the extent that they have in, e.g., Dominica. One is that fishermen still take cetaceans in some numbers around St. Lucia. There may be a slight uneasiness with the ascendancy of whale watching in other parts of the world and whether this might threaten the fishermen's cetacean-hunting income. It might be useful to measure the potential benefits in a socioeconomic study, weighing the potential of whale and dolphin tourism, and the value of nature to St. Lucia's image, vs. the value from hunting to these families.

There may also be some conservation implications to these hunts. Although scientists are aware of them (eg., Reeves 1988 and pers. comm.), the hunts are not monitored and the IUCN status of the species hunted is insufficiently known. In 1997, the St. Lucia Whale & Dolphin Watching Association (SLWDWA) was formed to promote the development of high quality whale watching around St. Lucia. Two founder operators' signed up with founder-association secretary Jane Tipson, who set up an office next

door to her own tour company Toucan Travel, at Rodney Bay Marina in Castries. SLWDWA set up a website, an environmental reference library at a local cafe, and began working with international scientists and whale watch authorities to come up with acceptable regulations for whale watching in St. Lucia. Whale watching was soon listed as a regular offering in at least two of the major Caribbean-wide guidebooks. In truth, whale watching has been poised to take off now for 2-3 years, with operators advertising whale watching and taking a few people out, but regular popular tours only started in December 1998. Sunlink Tours, which offers a wide variety of adventure tours on various boats, now lists whale and dolphin watching as one of its featured tours, and after 3 months operation had 269 bookings at $70 US per person. The trips include hydrophones to listen to the whales. As of March 1999, a second company had begun offering the tours, taking about 30 visitors a week over the first two months. These numbers show that demand is there and that local operators are willing to invest to meet that demand. It would not be surprising if several thousand people were going whale watching from St. Lucia by the year 2000. Still, if whale watching is to become successful and of enduring value in St. Lucia, there will need to be enforced regulations, naturalist guides on the boats, and an education programme that helps ensure the conservation of marine fauna. SLWWDA has already taken the lead in promoting high quality whale watching and in providing information and technical assistance.

But much more clearly needs to be done if whale watching is to develop into a valuable, enduring industry that will bring economic, social and environmental benefits to the country. With St. Lucia's endangered leatherback turtles (landing on the beaches from May to August to lay their eggs when there are all-night 'turtle watches'), rare parrots (which can be seen on a day hike through the rain forest), a frigate bird sanctuary and numerous other birding opportunities, there is already a reason for nature tourists to visit.

For Whale and Dolphin information on other Caribbean Islands click here