Code of conduct - respect for wildlife
At Marine Discovery we aim to run our trips with minimal impact on the animals we are watching. One of the key ways of doing this is to carefully manage your approach and interactions with animals.
We aim to operate within the boundaries of all of the guidelines set out by NGO’s (non government organisations) and charities. We even sponser the Shark Trust’s Basking Shark code of conduct leaflet.
Our code of conduct
We aim to go further
Currently we feel the unregulated situation in the UK is unacceptable so we aim to go further to ensure we have minimal impact on the wildlife we are watching. One thing we find time and again is that a sensitive, knowledgeable approach to wildlife gives you the best encounters and often the closest. This is because relaxed, unthreatened whales, dolphins and porpoises often choose to come closer to us.
As we approach animals we will always identify them and talk to you about their current behaviour.
We will adjust our approach to suit their behaviour and explain what we are doing and why so that you have peace of mind that your experience is not having a negative impact on the animals.
We will always reflect on interactions and whether we employed best practice and how we could improve our approach in the future.
We will keep up to date with the latest reports on boat and animal interactions so that we can reflect on our own practice.
Our trips always have a high educational content to help you learn about the wildlife we are watching.
We will collect high quality research during our trips. This enables us to learn about the whales, dolphins, porpoises, sharks, seals, turtles and seabirds that we see. Using this knowledge we can improve our approach and improve your encounters.
We will always endeavour to lead by example.
In 2013 we set up the Cornwall Marine Life Boat operators group along with other operators interested in minimising their impact on nature.
We are a Seawatch Foundation recommended operator. The Seawatch foundation have an extensive set of guidelines that they expect operators to follow.
We are a Seawatch Foundation recommended operator. The Seawatch foundation have an extensive set of guidelines that they expect operators to follow.
We are a WiSe accredited ‘Wildlife Safe Operator’. Duncan has followed the two days of this course that elevate him to WiSE Master status. The WiSe scheme is currently unregulated and we believe it should be.