Safety rules for ethical whale watching on the East Coast
We are in Trincomalee for whale watching What are the legal safety distance rules the boats must follow to protect the whales
5 Answers from travellers
Under the Department of Wildlife Conservation guidelines, boats must maintain a minimum distance of 100 meters from the whales. They must reduce speed to a no-wake crawl and approach parallel to the animal. It is highly illegal to approach head-on or cut off their path. Ensure you book with a large, reputable operator in Trincomalee or use the official Navy boat tours.
Do not book the small fiberglass speedboats. They are the ones that constantly harass the animals and break the rules.
If the captain starts revving the engine to chase them, yell at him to stop. Tourist pressure works.
Absolutely not. Drones are strictly banned over marine mammals in Sri Lanka. It distresses them severely.
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