"Ecotourism is the fastest-growing 

 sector of tourism worldwide. 

 Along the north Carolina coast 

 the demand for wildlife-related 

 actiuities such as birding, 

 marine mammal obseruation and 

 kayak ecotours is rapidly increasing. 

 Rs businesses catering to uisitors 

 increase, we need to know 

 more about how these people are 

 impacting the natural and economic 

 enuironments and the quality 

 of life for local residents." 

 - ilorth Carolina Sea Grant Suruey 



escott isn't the only one 

 marveling over the dolphins' playful 

 activities — from riding on waves to 

 flipping fish on their noses. Each summer, 

 Wescott and other Outer Banks tour 

 operators take hundreds of visitors on 

 cruises around Roanoke Island, the Pamlico 

 Sound, Oregon, Hatteras and Ocracoke 

 inlets and the Atlantic in search of 

 bottlenose dolphins, which also are found 

 on the southern end of North Carolina's 

 coast. 



In fact, dolphin watching has become 

 such a popular activity that some tour 

 operators stay booked up during the season 

 when bottlenose dolphins travel into the 

 protected inshore waters of North 

 Carolina's barrier islands. 



"We run three trips a day from May to 

 September," says Captain Rich Mallon- 

 Day, who operates the Nags Head Dolphin 

 Watch out of Willet's Wetsports on the 

 Nags Head/Manteo Causeway. "Every 

 week, we are usually booked for the entire 

 week." 



Mallon-Day delights in seeing the 

 moms with their new calves. "It's fun 

 seeing the families changing." 



Jack Thigpen, North Carolina Sea 

 Grant acting extension director and coastal 

 recreation and tourism specialist, attributes 

 the growth of bottlenose dolphin watching 

 to increased interest in the marine environ- 

 ment. 



"A generation grew up watching the 

 adventure series 'Flipper' in the 1960s," 

 says Thigpen. "Now people want to find 

 out more about dolphin behavior, biology 

 and their habitat." 



To better understand nature tourists' 

 interest in North Carolina and the impact of 

 commercial dolphin-watch enterprises on 

 the Outer Banks, Thigpen and North 

 Carolina Sea Grant staff member Ann 

 Pierce conducted a 1999 survey of Outer 

 Banks dolphin watchers. They worked with 

 Mallon-Day, Wescott, Spurgeon Stowe, 

 captain of Ms. Hatteras, and Stevie Wilson, 

 captain of Miss Ocracoke. 



"Ecotourism is the fastest-growing 



HIGH SEASON 2000 



