Cetacean watching is an increasingly popular economic activity in Ecuador for tourism operators. Despite government regulations, cetacean watching can have a negative impact on observed animal populations. To enhance good dolphin-watching practices, a course was carried out in Puerto El Morro, Ecuador about sensitisation activities promoting empathy towards and knowledge about bottlenose dolphins, local avifauna and mangrove ecosystems. The course provided tourism operator staff with theoretical and practical knowledge on dolphin physiology and ecology, with a focus on empathy towards the species and on regulations to be respected during the watching tours. The course included interactive workshops, didactic materials, advice, video screening and structured conversations. Two innovative questionnaires were implemented on the boat during 68 dolphin-watching tours to evaluate whether the training course had improved the regulation compliance and on-tour guiding quality of the tour guides and boat drivers. The results showed a statistically significant improvement in dolphin-watching practices in compliance with the “Regulations for the Whale and Dolphin Watching of Ecuador” (p = .0002) and in guidance quality (p = .0004) after the training course. Boat drivers were identified as influential actors in compliance with regulations and should also be included in the environmental awareness training courses. The study showed that empathy-based sensitisation and knowledge reinforcement positively affect policy compliance and can generate new sustainable approaches for future dolphin-watching activities.

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基于移情的敏感性和知识强化如何影响政策合规性：厄瓜多尔观赏海豚的案例研究

鲸目动物观赏是厄瓜多尔旅游经营者越来越受欢迎的经济活动。尽管有政府规定，但观察鲸目动物可能会对观察到的动物种群产生负面影响。为了加强良好的海豚观赏实践，在厄瓜多尔的埃尔莫罗港举办了一个关于宣传活动的课程，以促进对宽吻海豚、当地鸟类和红树林生态系统的同情和了解。该课程为旅游经营者提供有关海豚生理和生态学的理论和实践知识，重点是对物种的同情以及在观赏之旅中应遵守的规定。该课程包括互动研讨会、教学材料、建议、视频放映和结构化对话。在 68 次观海豚之旅中，在船上实施了两项创新问卷调查，以评估培训课程是否提高了导游和船长的合规性和导游质量。结果显示，在遵守“厄瓜多尔观鲸和观海豚条例”的情况下，观海豚活动在统计上显着改善（p= .0002) 和指导质量 (p= .0004) 培训课程结束后。船司机被确定为符合法规的有影响力的参与者，也应包括在环境意识培训课程中。该研究表明，基于同理心的敏感性和知识强化对政策合规性产生积极影响，并可以为未来的海豚观赏活动产生新的可持续方法。