Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Adventure Antigua set to attend whale watching workshop in Panama

whalepic-061

"Dear Mr. Fuller,
03 October 2011
Re: Workshop on Marine Mammal Watching in the Wider Caribbean Region Panama City, Panama 19-22 October 2011


The United Nations Environment Programme-Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP-CEP), through its Protocol on Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife in the Wider Caribbean Region (SPAW) sub-programme, and with the support of the National Environmental Authority of the Government of the Republic of Panama (ANAM) would like to invite you to attend a Workshop on Marine Mammal Watching in the Wider Caribbean Region. The Workshop, which is being funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, the French Marine Protected Area Agency, UNEP-CEP, the SPAW Regional Activity Centre, Humane Society International, International Fund for Animal Welfare, the World Society for the Protection of Animals and the Pacific Whale Foundation will take place at the Radisson Summit Hotel and Golf in Panama City, Panama, 19 – 22 October 2011.
The Workshop is a first attempt to bring together marine resource operators and managers from the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) and you have been selected to attend because of your work as a tour operator. The Workshop will include 4 days of hands-on training and discussions in order to:
Discuss the formulation of an overarching code of conduct for observing marine mammals in the WCR;
Assess the extent of problems and needs, and identify opportunities for improvement of existing marine mammal watching operations; Identify new areas that might support marine mammal watching activities; Document existing marine mammal educational materials; and
Standardize data collection forms used by operators.

..........
We look forward to your participation in this workshop to facilitate the conservation of marine mammals and contribute to the Action Plan for the Conservation of Marine Mammals in the Wider Caribbean.    We have also attached a copy of the Workshop’s draft agenda for you to review.
"

So this is great news for Adventure Antigua and for all tour operators here in Antigua. As many of my readers know, I think that Antigua's governmental support for Japanese whaling is totally flawed in so many ways. They are not representing the interest of Antigua and Barbuda.

For more on some of the things i have written about whales and our Japanese designed fisheries policy check this:   http://antiguaisland.blogspot.com/search?q=japan

I'll come back and share what i have learned with other tour operators and the people of Antigua and Barbuda.

A few of my videos where we had fun with whales and dolphins: 






A fun Antigua video

This video shows a selection of interesting places and things to do in Antigua. They didn't speak with my company when they came out, so Adventure Antigua wasn't featured. I guess we are still a hidden secret within a hidden secret. lol
Anyway, enjoy the video:



www.adventureantigua.com