Dolphin watching cruise entertains ecotourism fans in Amakusa, southwestern Japan

March 30, 2017

Dolphin watching cruise entertains ecotourism fans in Amakusa, southwestern Japan

Relatively small bottlenose dolphins can be seen almost throughout the year in waters off Futae Port in Amakusa, Kyushu, southwestern Japan, but the spot is bustling with many ecotourism fans in the high season from spring to summer.
Futae faces a waterway lying between the northern coasts of the Amakusa Islands and the Shimabara Peninsula. A habitat of 200 to 300 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, the area is known as one of the best four dolphin watching points in Japan.
Eight different operators run dolphin watching boats, usually five times a day, but more frequently in the holiday seasons. Charges for the cruise are 2,500 yen for adults and 1,500 yen for children.
"The encounter rate is as high as 99 percent all the seasons." This is a catch phrase for the Futae dolphin watching cruise. Should passengers meet no dolphins, they can get on for a retry free of charge.

Watching points can be reached in five to 10 minutes after leaving the port.
Passengers who joined the cruise late in March saw herds of 10 or so gray bottlenose dolphins jump up from the sea from time to time while shining triangular dorsal fins. They breached quickly above the sea, at so close a place that water sprays on passengers, and quickly disappeared into the sea.

The waterway off Futae in Itsuwa Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, is a rich fishing ground, but this means it is also a good feeding area for many dolphins. Local fishermen use no fishing nets. This is why no cases occur in which dolphins get caught in fishing nets in the waters.
Wild dolphins and people coexist peacefully in the Amakusa area, a cruise operator says.
After breaching above the sea, dolphins sometimes swam ahead of the boats as if they lead the way.
In Japan, small dolphins had been caught in drive-fishing in various areas until early in the 20th century. Drive-fishing is still used as a traditional method at certain places, but the practice has been internationally criticized as a cruel act.
Toward the end of the one-hour cruise off Futae, most passengers looked satisfied with the exciting experience.
Asked by a passenger on the return to the port, the skipper said, "Today's cruise was so,so. Sometimes, we can see even more dolphins."
"We can also see cute baby dolphins with mothers from around April on," he said. "We hope more people will come and enjoy the heart-warming time with wild dolphins."