Responsible Cohabitation in Arctic Waters: The Promise of a Spectacle Tourist Whale

Abstract

Being concerned with responsible whale tourism, we have argued that we need to understand how whales are enacted in multiple ways. To do so, we describe a series of knowledge practices or ontologies through which different whales are enacted and the relations between these. We argue that there are multiple versions of the whale in northern seascapes, and have organised our analysis around four dominant versions: the spectacle touristic whale, the co-hunter, the environmental whale and the invisible whale. All of these are assemblages of research activities, natures/seascapes and expanding networks and politics. The whales reside in waters with fishermen and their nets as well as interferences from seismic ships on behalf of the Norwegian government and international oil companies. Whales are still being hunted and put on the menu; they are being protected and given territorial rights by environmental organisations, fishermen and local communities alike. They are enacted as a touristic spectacle. In doing so, the whales become a new and important companion, not least for a growing tourist industry in the north.