Safe Boating Tactics In Wild Alaska!



Whale hello there and welcome aboard! My name is McKenzie Mungai and I am a senior at Eckerd College. I am majoring in Marine Education & Conservation and minoring in Psychology.  I have had a passion for conserving and protecting our oceans since I was in kindergarten. I have wanted to be a marine biologist for as long as I can remember and this past summer, I was lucky enough to carry out of my life long dreams. I worked in Juneau, Alaska as a whale watching naturalist. This was an unforgettable summer for me and I hope to continue on after graduation. Being able to have a hand in conservation and teaching others about the importance of protecting and conserving the humpback whales, was a life changing event for me. I am very passionate about this and my main goal is to ensure that others are too.

There are a few rules and regulations that we must follow, while out on the water to not only ensure the safety of our guests and crew, but also our humpback whales. For example, the North Pacific humpback whales that we were so lucky to encounter everyday, are protected under The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). This means that since they are protected, there are rules and regulations that we must follow, while in their presence. First off, we can’t legally get within 100 yards of a humpback whale, while in a vessel. While we are in their presence, our vessel should be at an idle speed and we should be going no faster than 7 knots. We also can not approach these whales head on or chase them. We should not corner them or corral them. We need to respect their space. When we are out on the water, we are in their habitat, and as educators and conservationists, it is our job to respect them and not to harass them. 

I know we are all stuck in quarantine and are just wishing that we could go on vacation, so for my Environmental Communication course, I have constructed a virtual whale watching tour, which includes various clips from my summer in Alaska, lots of fun facts about whales and rules and regulations that we follow out on the water. One of my goals was to immerse the viewer on a breathtaking trip, but to also educate about the importance of protecting the humpback and other whales that we see throughout our trip and to give an insight as to what’s going on behind the scenes, in the wheelhouse and the rules and regulations that must be followed. 

My intended audience for this project were my co-workers and other mariners. I realized however, since this video would be posted on my social media, my friends list would be seeing it too. I wanted this to be an interactive video that immersed the viewer right into wild Alaska. I used various concepts and tools that I had acquired from my Environmental Communication course, in my project. For example, the first tool that I utilized was the message box. The message box is a way in which I was able to organize my thoughts, so that I was sure I would be able to state my main issue, ways in which it could be fixed and the benefits in doing this. Through this tool, I was sure to hit every point possible. I was also able to frame my video in a way to grab the viewer's attention. I started off with a question and asked, “Stuck in quarantine? Are you just wishing you could take a trip and sail away?” This is a question that almost everyone can answer “Yes” to. I immediately went into detail about the virtual whale watch itself and the reasoning behind the video. Overall, I had 144 views, 14 comments, and 25 likes. The majority of the people who interacted with my post, were co-workers who work at Allen Marine Tours with me. I received a lot of positive feedback and comments from my co-workers such as, “This is so neat!! I thoroughly enjoyed your tour!”. I also received a comment from my captain that stated, “Sweet McKenzie, man I really miss being out there with them everyday! That was a great summer for me… tons of fun!!”. I also received comments from the general public like, “Wow! I just learned so much! So neat!” and “Thank you for taking us on an amazing journey into Alaska. The whales are beautiful and you did a great job telling us about them”.

When I was completely finished with this project, I decided to also send it to an organization called WhaleSense. This is an organization that Allen Marine Tours actually partners with. This company partners with mariners and advocates for safe boating practices. My main hope is that they can incorporate it into their education material. Their main mission and goals are as follows:


Whale SENSE Proud Supporters promote responsible whale watching practices and marine stewardship by:

✅Supporting the mission and purpose of the Whale SENSE program

✅Understanding what it means to have Whale SENSE

✅Promoting Whale SENSE principles of responsible wildlife viewing

✅Engaging in responsible advertising

✅Encouraging the public to book with Whale SENSE operators


Since I had to measure the success of my communication piece, I decided to also post it to Facebook and this way, I could measure the success, based on  viewers, comments, and likes. 


Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and endorsing on this journey with me! I have proudly linked the video down below and I am very excited to immerse you into a once in a lifetime opportunity, taking you on a virtual whale watching tour, through the Northwest passage in Juneau, Alaska. Grab a jacket and protect your camera! You may get wet!


Works Cited

About 350.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://350.org/about/


Baron, N. (2010). Escape from the ivory tower: a guide to making your science matter. Washington: Island Press.


Funk, C., & Kennedy, B. (2017). Public divides Over environmental regulation and policy. Pew Research Center, 1–19. Retrieved from https://moodle.eckerd.edu/moodle_20192/pluginfile.php/20938/mod_resource/content/0/PS_2017.05.16_Energy-Priorities_FINAL (1) (1).pdf


Naylor, W., & Parsons, E. C. M. (2018). An Online Survey of Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions Toward Whales and Dolphins, and Their Conservation. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00153


Whalesense. “Responsible Whale Watching - Your Choice Matters!” Whale SENSE, 8 May 2020, whalesense.org/.

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