To comply or not to comply? Recreational boaters' compliance with right whales' regulations in the southeastern US

This study seeks to understand the factors that influence recreational boaters’ intentions to comply with a regulation that restricts vessels from approaching and remaining within 460-m of the North Atlantic right whale... [ view full abstract ]

This study seeks to understand the factors that influence recreational boaters’ intentions to comply with a regulation that restricts vessels from approaching and remaining within 460-m of the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a framework, we developed a questionnaire that was mailed to recreational vessel owners using the offshore waters of the southeastern United States, which corresponds with the southern portion of the right whales’ calving and nursing grounds. Recreational vessels encompassed 86% of the traffic observed transiting the main inlets in the study area during the winter months (December–March). We conducted analysis using information from 438 questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to assess whether the TPB helps to explain the intention to comply with the 460-m rule and to measure the strength of the relationship of the different theoretical constructs being evaluated using composite scores. We found that two constructs of the TPB significantly explained 58% of the intention to comply with the regulation: (1) the more positive one’s attitude toward the regulation; and (2) the stronger the belief that other people are complying, the greater the intention to comply with the regulation. Boaters recommended increasing knowledge about whales could improve compliance, but they were divided with respect to increasing fines for violators to increase compliance. This information can be used by managers designing outreach strategies to protect right whales.