Hello, and thanks for all the fish
Niki Moore
The dolphins of Plettenberg Bay are a remarkable group.?They have started a crche, a theatre and a vegetable garden in the local township.?They have trained tour guides, paid school fees and raised funds for ocean research.
They’re now working on a restaurant, backpacker’s lodge, fish-packing factory, an arts and craft centre and a can-recycling business.
Actually, it’s not the dolphins themselves who have undertaken these activities, which are taking place on their behalf and with their full cooperation.?The whales of Plett are also in on the act and have lent their full endorsement to all the projects.
Their human agent is David Rissik, owner of Ocean Blue Adventures.?Rissik’s company was one of the first in South Africa to offer whale-watching excursions after the activity became official four years ago.
Almost immediately after launching his business, Rissik established a trust funded by ticket sales. “My philosophy was that we needed a way in which poor communities who live near the sea can derive a benefit from the marine environment in a non-invasive and sustainable way.”
“In Plett fishing is the biggest industry, but tourism is catching up.?If tourism can overtake fishing in importance and we can establish a marine reserve all along this coast and derive income from tourism, I will have achieved my goal.”
Ocean Blue Adventures runs two boats and employs 14 people.?Although the excursions are advertised as whale-watching tours, a primary attraction is the?dolphins.
The company runs whale tours in winter and dolphin tours pretty much all year round.?”We have to be careful with the dolphin tours, though.?They are skittish and sensitive animals,” says Rissik. “There is a fine line between use and abuse.?
“We are proud of the fact that we are responsible. In fact, all the tour operators in Plett are ethical and there is no harassment of animals.”
The whales and dolphins repay this consideration by bringing in a lot of tourist dollars.?The Cape whale-watching industry, according to recent reports, attracts more tourists than the Kruger National Park.
Rissik’s business is increasing by 120% a month. The desperately poor communities who live next to the ocean are also beginning to reap the benefits. Funds from the Qolweni Community Trust have been used to establish a dramatic troupe with its very own amphitheatre in the local township. Theatre director Andile Mdatyulwa (16) and the township children stage plays for visitors that deal with topics ranging from Aids to the environment, spiced with liberal dashes of Xhosa culture.
“These children are actually the ones driving the whole process,” says Rissik. “The tourists love them.”
Ticket sales from shows pay the school fees of 25 children.?The maintenance of the theatre is looked after and there is even money to pay wages to the theatre director and actors.
The Qolweni crche is another dolphin-assisted initiative.?The community trust, along with other sponsors, opened the crche last December, complete with professional staff and equipment.?Some 65 children a day play on the rustic slides and swings, or sit listening to lessons, while their mothers now have the freedom to seek employment.
Ocean Blue Adventures has lent its marketing expertise and infrastructure to a black-owned business that runs Township Cultural Tours.?For this, the township of Qolweni (“Welcome” in Xhosa) is well-named.
Rissik’s motivation is pragmatic: “Whenever you think about conservation, you can’t leave people out of the equation. We would like to see this whole coast between the two nature reserves [Tsitsikamma and Robberg] become a marine conservation zone.?But this would mean people would lose their source of food through subsistence fishing.
“As soon as they see there is a living to be made through conservation, we will have their support.?Without their support, it could never happen.”
To fast-track the creation of this super-sea-park, Ocean Blue Adventures has created a research organisation called Ocean Research and Conservation Africa (Orca).?
Rissik conducts educational tours on his boat. “We take out about 10 kids from the township a month.?Most of them have never been to sea, although they live right next to it.”
For Rissik, a former Olympic horserider, all animals are special but he is obsessed with dolphins.
“I first swam with dolphins when I was six and I have visited every site on earth where there is close contact with dolphins,” he says.?”I want people to understand the value of these creatures and to look on them with the same respect that I do.”
It seems the dolphins are happy to return the sentiment.
Investing in the Environment:Corporate Winner
Winner: Ocean Blue Adventures
Prize: R10 000, sponsored by Everard Read Gallery
Judges’ comments: “This company is running one of the first ecotourism projects we have seen that can actually work. It is a small company offering sustainable methods, involving local communities and a broad range of educational initiatives.
“It hasn’t stuck to the traditional approach to ecotourism and is setting an example of how to get things right.”