Introduction: (page 2)
At its inception, the cetacean watching industry was seen as a zero-impact activity. However, after 20 years of research findings suggest otherwise. Studies have shown that cetacean watching activities can impact the targeted populations by changing behaviour, altering energy budgets, displacing animals from the habitat, and shifting their population parameters (Williams et al. 2002a; Williams et al. 2002b; Lusseau 2003; Constantine et al. 2004; Lusseau 2004; Scheidat et al. 2004; Bejder 2005; Lusseau 2005; Bejder et al. 2006a; Bejder et al. 2006b; Williams et al. 2006) . The observation of cetaceans in their environment is not a negative activity in and of itself; nevertheless, problems begin to arise when there is a large growth in the number of vessels involved in these activities (Bejder 2005; Lusseau 2005; Williams and Ashe 2007) . The question is not the activity in itself, but rather in how it is undertaken.
While cetacean watching is a growing business in the Wider Caribbean area, little is known about even the most basic biological variables of the species which it exploits. Much of our knowledge of the presence, distribution, and abundance of these animals stems from strandings, opportunistic sightings during research with other goals, commercial/military vessels with observers on board, catches from directed fisheries, or from a few directed research studies (Caldwell and Erdman 1963; Erdman 1970; Caldwell et al. 1971; Erdman et al. 1973; Caldwell and Caldwell 1975; van Bree 1975; Caldwell et al. 1976; Taruski and Winn 1976; Watkins and Moore 1982; Whitehead and Moore 1982; Reeves 1988; Mattlia and Clapham 1989; Watkins et al. 1997; Gordon et al. 1998; Cardona-Maldonado and Mignucci-Giannoni 1999; Rosario-delestre et al. 1999; Gero et al. 2007) . Most of these studies focused on a single species or family, or within a particular island’s or country’s waters. Although, in more recent years, some inter-island survey data has become available (Jefferson and Lynn 1994; Roden and Mullin 2000; Mignucci-Giannoni et al. 2003; Swartz et al. 2003) . Compared to the Gulf of Mexico, relatively less work has been completed in the Caribbean Sea. As such, the cetacean inhabitants of the Caribbean Sea remain understudied and poorly known.