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Your involvement and support are vital to the Center's efforts to conserve endangered whales and marine ecosystems.
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| Wednesday, October 5, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: PCCS and Portuguese Princess to Offer Whale Watches in '06
(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - Portuguese Princess Excursions, Inc. (PPEI) and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) today announced the signing of a 5-year agreement designed to usher in a new age of whale watching and commitment to marine conservation. Beginning in April 2006, under the terms of the agreement, the commercially-owned excursion and non-profit research, conservation, and education center will conduct a series of excursions departing from Provincetown and Boston to explore the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Cape Cod Bay, the Great South Channel, and Nantucket.
PCCS Executive Director Peter Borrelli said his organization's goal was to "set the gold standard for marine education and awareness." "Whale-watching, seal-watching, bird-watching should be fun and awe inspiring, but at the end of the trip, if our passengers are not spiritually and politically energized, we have failed as educators." In making the announcement, George Hilton of Newburyport and principal owner of Portuguese Princess Excursions, described the 30-year-old whale watching industry in New England as stagnant and in need of revitalization. "By partnering with the internationally renowned Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies," said Hilton, "we are committing our company to a sense of purpose that we feel is now missing. In addition to safely transporting our passengers to the offshore waters of Massachusetts to see whales and other wonders of the marine world, we must instill in them a sense of personal responsibility for the protection of these animals and their habitat. There can be no better partner in this endeavor than the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies." While plans for the new season are still preliminary, the company will be offering a new format for the standard 3-4 hour whale watch that will include an introduction to research techniques and feature an array of electronic equipment. The company will also being offering all-day ecological tours for more experienced amateur naturalists interested in marine mammals, seabirds, and marine exploration; overnight trips to Nantucket, including lodging and a tour of the Nantucket Whaling Museum, that will include a passage through the critical marine mammal habitat of the Great South Channel southeast of Chatham. Working with PCCS educators, Portuguese Princess will also offer special tours for school groups designed to meet MCAS education requirements. Borrelli said that since the advent of whale watching in New England and the creation of the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, conditions within the marine environment had worsened, not improved. "There is more pollution, more development, more ships, more noise, more injured animals than ever before," said Borrelli, who is a long-time member of the national marine sanctuary's advisory council. ** Scientists and researchers at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies are committed to the study and protection of marine mammals and coastal ecosystems through public education, research and conservation programs. Since its founding in 1976, the private, non-profit has become internationally renowned for its whale research and rescue programs, its whale watching program, and is the leading authority for science-based resource management policies in Massachusetts.# # # Contacts:Theresa M. Barbo Director of Communications Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (508) 487-3622 x103 (office) (774) 353-8034 (mobile) ccsmedia@coastalstudies.org
Joanne M. Jarzobski
Jay Hurley | ||
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