Blue-whale watching from Mirissa and Trincomalee with a code of conduct and a limit on boats

A first step

Draft a one-page code of conduct for whale watching: distance, speed, time with the animals and number of boats. Take it to the boat operators at Mirissa or Trincomalee and ask which of them would sign it and advertise it. Then ask two travel agents abroad whether they would sell a signed-code trip at a higher price than the rest. Written yeses from both sides show whether restraint can be sold.

Who pays first

A European tour operator whose guests ask whether a trip treats the whales well, and who will pay more for one that keeps its distance.

What leaves today

Without a trusted standard the whale watching sells cheap and crowded, and the premium travellers pay for responsible encounters goes to other coasts.

The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.

The test

Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?

The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.

In the book

• Ch. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
  An ocean eight times the size of the land

More from cluster 13

• 251Sailing charters and a yacht marina at Galle or Trincomalee, with the crew trained here
• 252Diving schools at the wrecks of Trincomalee and the reefs of the east, certified to international standard
• 253Sport fishing charters with catch-and-release, sold to the Gulf and Europe
• 254Sea-cucumber and seaweed farming in the northern lagoons, which Japan and Korea buy
• 255Tuna graded, loined and vacuum-packed at the harbour for the sashimi market, not sold whole
• 256Crab and prawn from the lagoons as a branded chilled export, with the lagoon's name

All 20 ideas in this cluster