| Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Media Release 3.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Theresa M. Barbo
(774) 263-4219
ccsmedia@coastalstudies.org
PCCS Launches Whale Watching '06 Season aboard Portuguese Princess Excursions
New Partnership Sets Higher Industry Standards for Whale Watching
(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - On April 19, the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) will begin an innovative new era in whale watching under a new partnership with Portuguese Princess Excursions (PPE.)
From April through October, PCCS naturalists will lead whale watches from Provincetown aboard the Portuguese Princess II and Captain Red. Trips are available daily, weather permitting. Though PCCS Naturalists have led some 25,000 trips over 30 years, its partnership with PPE is new.
PCCS Marine Education Director Joanne M. Jarzobski said, "The new PCCS/PPE partnership will set new standards for both environmental education and protection of whales."
"Our whale watching trips will include an in-depth introduction into research techniques, plankton sampling and microscope viewing," added Jarzobski, herself a veteran who has led 1,000 whale watches. "Educational stations, interactive games for children featuring modern electronic equipment for charting course, depth, and listening to whale sounds will be part of the whale watching experience with PCCS aboard the Portuguese Princess vessels," she added.
"All of us at Portuguese Princess Excursions are committed to and excited by this new era in whale watching," said George Hilton, principal owner of PPE. "We have been whale watching since 1985 and we can think of no better partner than PCCS," he added.
All-day ecological tours for more experienced amateur naturalists interested in marine mammals, seabirds, and marine exploration are an added bonus to the '06 season. The first all-day ecological tour on Saturday, June 24, will take passengers to offshore habitat areas, not easily accessible during a typical 3-4 hour trip. The Great South Channel, Jefferies Ledge, Platts Bank, Wildcat Knolls, nearshore habitats east of Cape Cod and the Gerry E. Studds/Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary are possible habitat areas for an all-day ecological tour.
Special trips for school groups, designed to meet MCAS education requirements, and Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks are part of the '06 whale watch plan. A curriculum featuring pre-trip and post-trip activities, such as lectures and data training and collection, are available through the PCCS Marine Education Department.
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The new partnership has also adopted what PCCS Executive Director Peter Borrelli calls the "precautionary rule" of whale watching. "We intend to slow down and keep a respectful distance from the whales," said Borrelli. Under the whale watch guidelines published by NOAA Fisheries in 1999, at a distance of two miles from a whale, all whale watch vessels are to reduce speeds to 13 knots, then to 10 knots within 1 mile, and then to 7 knots within a half mile. Only one boat at a time may approach a whale 100 to 300 feet away, and no boat is intentionally to approach a whale within 100 feet. When leaving whales, the same speed and distance procedures apply.
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'30 Years of Discovery & Commitment'
The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies is dedicated to protecting marine mammals and coastal ecosystems through public education, scientific research, and conservation programs. Since its founding in 1976, the private, non-profit has become internationally renowned for its whale research and rescue programs, and is a leading authority for science-based resource management policies in Massachusetts through Coastal Solutions Initiative, the Center's public policy arm.
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For whale watch reservations, contact Portuguese Princess Excursions at 800-442-3188. Visit PP on-line at www.princesswhalewatch.com. Friends of PCCS are entitled to a 50% discount aboard Portuguese Princess Excursions.
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PCCS Contacts:
Theresa M. Barbo
Director of Communications
Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies
(508) 487-3622 x103 (office)
ccsmedia@coastalstudies.org
Joanne M. Jarzobski
Marine Education Director
(508) 487-3623 x107
solution@coastalstudies.org
PPEI Contact
Jay Hurley
Director of Sales & Marketing
Portuguese Princess Excursions, Inc.
(508) 487-2651
Jay@princesswhalewatch.com
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