The Nai‘a Guide: An Ecological Conscience Guide to Spinner Dolphin Tourism in Hawai‘i
Abstract
Hawaiian spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris longirostris) rest in shallow bays
off the Kona Coast of Hawai‘i Island. Tourism operations exploit this behavior, placing
tourists into the water to swim, kayak, and paddleboard with the dolphins, often harassing
them. These activities disrupt resting behavior and may lead to negative population
level effects. Several strategies to protect the dolphins have been attempted in
previous years. None however, have proven successful. Here, I illustrate the need
for an outreach campaign to educate tourists visiting Hawai‘i. I have created a mobile
application: The Nai‘a Guide. This application (app) serves as an ecological conscience
guide to spinner dolphin tourism. It provides tourists with information, maps, photos,
audio, and video explaining the dolphins’ ecology and the science of spinner dolphin
research. The app offers direct connections to accredited tourism operations that
adhere to a code of responsible practices recognized by the Dolphin SMART program.
With funding provided by Dolphin SMART, I was able to work with an online company,
Kleverbeast, to design and create the app and release The Nai‘a Guide on Apple’s iTunes
App Store. To illustrate the potential of such a tool, I used an educational video
accompanied by surveys to measure the change in perception of the consequences of
human interaction with the dolphins. My findings indicate that multimedia tools on
mobile devices have power for changing awareness and therefore changing action. I
also explored the need for further development in mobile technology for conservation
initiatives through a survey of apps that are currently available for download. The
results shown here indicate that multimedia apps like The Nai‘a Guide are a viable
but largely underused tool for increased conservation awareness. Future work should
include the continued development of updated content, transforming The Nai‘a Guide
for use on multiple mobile platforms, advertising, monitoring the app’s downloads,
and assessing the app’s success, as well as the consideration of additional conservation
initiatives that may benefit from mobile ecological conscience guides.
Type
Master's projectSubject
Hawaiian spinner dolphinsapps
The Nai‘a Guide
Dolphin SMART
responsible tourism
ecological conscience guide
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6675Citation
Fox, Demi (2013). The Nai‘a Guide: An Ecological Conscience Guide to Spinner Dolphin Tourism in Hawai‘i.
Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6675.Collections
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