Parsons, E.C.M. and Woods-Ballard, A.J. 2003. Whale-watching in western Scotland. In: Viewing Marine Mammals in the Wild: Emerging Issues, Research and Management Needs, pp. 12-14. Silver Spring, MD: NOAA. 82pp. 12 Whale-watching in Western Scotland E.C.M. Parsons* & A.J. Woods-Ballard *University Marine Biological Station Millport (University of London), Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland. & Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA. Tourism is the single largest industry in rural Scotland. The entire Scottish tourism trade grosses £2.5 billion (US$4 billion) annually. Whale-watching is an important component of this industry, with whales and dolphins being the country’s number one wildlife attraction. It has been noted that whales and dolphins are very effective at bringing tourists into an area: a recent survey determined that 23% of whale-watchers visited rural West Scotland specifically to go on whale-watching trips 1 . In 2000, the gross value of the whale-tourism industry in western regions of Scotland alone was worth £7.8 million (US$12 million) a year 1 . In some rural areas it provides as much as 12% of local tourist income 1 . The two main regions for whale-watching in Scotland are the Moray Firth on the east coast, and the western coast. The primary target species are bottlenose dolphins on the east coast, and minke whales on the west coast, although some operators in West Scotland also specialize in taking tourists to see bottlenose dolphins, harbor porpoises or Risso’s dolphins. This review of whale-watching activities primarily concerns the latter region. Whale-watching tourists in western Scotland are generally middle-class, well-educated and middle-aged, although there are a notable proportion of younger participants 2 . Whale-watchers are also more likely to be accompanied by children than general tourists 2 . Most tourists taking whale-watching trips in western Scotland (83.8%) were British, a quarter of whom were Scottish 2 . Seventy percent were repeat visitors to the area 2 . Of all whale-watchers in the region, 62% were on their first whale-watching trip, and of those who had been whale-watching before, a sizeable proportion (43.3%) had done so in the UK (90.4% in Scotland) 2 . It has also been discovered that tourists who went on marine wildlife-watching tours in western Scotland, particularly whale-watching, were very environmentally motivated and displayed great interest in animal welfare issues, e.g. 91% of marine wildlife-watching tourists on the Isle of Mull were involved in environmental/wildlife-related activities; 58% were members of environmental charities and an astonishing 18% stated that they actually engaged in voluntary work for environmental charities 3 . A survey conducted two years later discovered that the proportion of whale-watchers engaged in voluntary work had actually increased even further to 27% 4 . Greater levels of environmental awareness and concern for animal welfare in whale-watchers were also apparent in other ways, e.g. 73% of whale-watchers claimed that they only purchased cosmetic/hygiene products that had not been tested on animals 4 and 83% regularly recycled items (compared with only