For the first time in Canada, a tourist guide has been fined because he came too close to a whale in his boat. Scott Babcock has to pay a fine of 2000 Canadian Dollars (1340 Euros). In addition, he has two days of community service to raise awareness of the "public safety of recreational boaters near whales," the Canadian government said.
Babcock had disturbed a humpback whale jumping off the water last year off the Canadian Pacific coast. Fisheries officials photographed the incident and convicted Babcock, who takes tourists on whale-watching tours.
In Canada, it has been forbidden since 2018 to approach whales, dolphins and bottlenose dolphins to less than a hundred meters. In addition, it is prohibited to feed or swim with the animals. The North Pacific humpback whale, which Babcock was forcibly approaching, has been endangered since 2005.
