Like leopards and wild elephants, blue whales are a star attraction many foreign tourists do not want to miss!
But there were fewer blue whales were to be seen around Mirissa during last the whale watching season from August 2023 to last April.
The popular tourist attraction in the southern coast was not a success this time says whale watching tour operators.
They say less than half the number tourists had done whale watching tours than the previous season because there were very few blue whales. These operators want to save their popular tourist activity and their livelihood and that of many others.
What happened to them? Well, the boat operators have a few theories, yet to be scientifically proved, says academic, who says there is hardly any funding for vital research to find out what made gentle giants to leave Mirissa. But one illegal activity the academic agree should be stopped.
The whales watching tour operators alleged the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) turn their blind eye to this illegal activity though widely publicised even on the internet. They also alleged that DWC tax three fourths of their daily income from their boats for nothing!
However, the DWC says it is ill-equipped to tackle this illegal activity of swimming and diving with whales.
(See the Sunday Times print edition tomorrow for full story)
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