Since August until the first days of September we have had the opportunity at Pacific Whale Foundation Ecuador to do some capacity building and to learn from National Park (NP) rangers, NP guides and boat captains. Under coordination of the Ministry of Environment and the NP Machalilla we organised 3 talks directed at manoeuvering vessels correctly in presence of whales, at sharing our last scientific results, but most importantly to provide information and building capacity for guides and boat captains of the Machalilla NP.
All 3 talks together brought approximately 90 people together, including NP rangers with many years of experience as well as new ones who will contribute in the future to the protection of the marine area of the Machalilla NP. It was a real pleasure to have the guides with all their questions with us, as well as the silent captains whose tongue was loosened after a series of funny environmental role plays.
We are proud to be able to carry out our research for 18 years in a row, teaching and learning at the same time, to be able to share with the tourism operators and to be able to follow through with our scientific permit. We have engaged ourselves in building capacity and educating local populations of Puerto Lopez, to carry on with the research, but most of all to share our knowledge in order to protect ant preserve humpback whales in our beloved Ecuador.
