Become a member of The Center for Whale Research! The Pacific Whale Watch Association is proud to be a longtime supporter of Ken Balcomb and his team as they continue their fourth decade surveying the Southern Resident orcas and working to recover the population. Help them help the whales.

PWWA is also proud to assist the important work of Dr. John Calambokidis and Cascadia Research Collective, a scientific and education organization based in Olympia, Washington studying and protecting threatened marine mammals. For more information about Cascadia, visit 

With 33 member whale watch companies and partner marine businesses throughout the region, PWWA is in a unique position to contribute. Our distinctive, stable, all-weather, USCG 100-mile-certified vessels are important platforms for researchers, and the observations and photography our own biologists, naturalists, captains and even passengers compile and share with The Center, Cascadia and other scientists and institutions are critical data advancing the understanding and long-term survivability of these populations. You can also help the whales by coming out with one of our member operators and seeing these majestic animals first-hand, and then joining their constituency for conservation.

Jacques Cousteau is famous for saying, "People protect what they love." But the origin of that may have came from Baba Dioum, a Senegalese environmentalist, in a speech he made in 1968 in India to the general assembly of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Mr. Dioum said,

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."

Pioneer researchers like Ken Balcomb and his team at The Center for Whale Research, John Calambokidis and Cascadia Research, and the 33 whale watch operators of Washington State and British Columbia are doing exactly that - showing people the singular and precious wildlife of the Salish Sea, teaching them what we know and what we love, turning them into lifelong conservationists.

Join our prestigious group of whale watching and eco-tourism businesses.

The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) consists of 36 dedicated operators committed to research, education and responsible wildlife viewing. 

Member companies depart from 20 different ports in Washington State and British Columbia.