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Legal distance rules for boats approaching blue whales in Sri Lanka

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S
Sophie T.•6340 rep•2

How close are the boats legally allowed to get to the blue whales. Our boat chased one and got within 10 meters. It felt wrong.

12
wildlife

5 Answers from travellers

✓Accepted Answer

It is wrong and illegal. Under Sri Lankan Coast Guard and DWC regulations, boats must stay 100 meters away from a whale, reduce speed to a no-wake crawl, and approach parallel to the whale, NEVER from behind or head-on. If your boat breached this, you should report the boats registration number to the tourist police or coast guard.

1
R
Ruwan P.•6130 rep•1

The captain was literally revving the engine to keep up with it.

46
S
Sophie T.•6340 rep•2

Leave a terrible TripAdvisor review. It is the only thing that hurts the bad operators financially.

36
N
Nimali D.•4400 rep•1

This makes me so angry. I am definitely going to verify the company before booking.

28
J
Jack W.•4510 rep•2

That is called harassment. Whales will dive deep and leave the area if stressed by engine noise.

20
R
Ruwan P.•6130 rep•1

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