Whale, dolphin watching to be another Langkawi attraction: CEO
Published on: Thursday, August 11, 2016
Langkawi: The Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) plans to promote whale and dolphin watching as another tourism attraction and its Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Khalid Ramli called on industry players to prepare to tap the potential of this activity. He said Langkawi had been known to be one of the marine mammals' habitats where over 100 sightings of whales and dolphins had been recorded near the island over the last five years. "Tourism players in Langkawi should start working on a creative package for whale or dolphin watching which I am sure will attract more tourists to come," he told a press conference after opening a workshop on Marine Mammal Stranding Response here. According to him, the workshop could serve as a starting point to raise awareness on marine mammals protection and management as the basis to devise guidelines that could facilitate tour operators in creating their packages.ADVERTISEMENT "Most of us are not aware that our marine area is rich with species of whales and dolphins, so we need to look after them (the marine mammals) so that they would continue to be around," he added.Meanwhile, Dr Louisa Ponnampalam, a co-founder of MareCet, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to marine mammal and environment research, said no whale watching had been done as a tourism activity in Malaysia to date, while the only dolphin watching package known was conducted in Santubong, Sarawak. She said Bryde's whale, Indo-Pacific finless porpoise and three species of dolphins - Indo-Pacific humpback, Indo-Pacific bottlenose and Irrawaddy - had been spotted in a research that they had conducted around Langkawi waters for the last five years. "In Langkawi, the (marine mammal) population is at a relatively healthy level and we need to maintain this level by looking after the environment," she said. ADVERTISEMENT Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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According to her, the workshop, jointly-organised by MareCet and LADA, was an initiative to raise public awareness on marine mammals management and steps to be taken in dealing with stranded species.Some 100 participants comprising nature enthusiasts, fishermen, tour operators, hoteliers and government officers took part in the two-day workshop. – Bernama