Explanation of Indicator
Sea turtle, manatee, and whale watching have become increasingly popular activities in Florida. School age children participate as part of their education, tourists participate to experience Florida’s natural attractions, and residents generally participate to more fully understand and appreciate the state in which they reside. A wide variety of governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and private companies offer access to viewing and interpretive information on these wildlife watches. Many of these species, especially sea turtles and manatees, are under increasing pressure from human activities and show movements towards extinction. A public that is informed about the habitats of these creatures and understands how their actions may threaten these species is more likely to adopt behavior that promotes the conservation of these valuable species. Because there are many organizations providing the public with an opportunity to participate in marine wildlife watches, determining the number of participants may be difficult.
Data Characteristics
SOURCE
There is currently no source of data for this information.
ACQUISITION
Not applicable.
COLLECTION
Not applicable.
Recommendations
Currently there is no source of data for this information. It may be possible to collect the data from different organizations that offer wildlife watches; however, these organizations would first have to be identified. Gathering such decentralized data may not be effective or efficient if there is a large number of organizations.
Several decisions need to be made prior to identifying organizations that sponsor wildlife watches. First, it must be decided which of the three types of organizations (private, non-profit, and governmental) are to be included. A determination will also need to be made regarding whether to include all wildlife watch programs or only those where the wildlife is in its natural environment (as opposed to, for example, an aquarium). Once these decisions are made, the task will be to identify all groups that meet the criteria and survey them for visitor counts. These organizations, and any new ones that form, can then be surveyed annually for visitor counts so that an indicator can be constructed.