Brazil Whale Watching Law: Disturbing a Whale Is a Crime

So the short answer is simple: in Brazil you can watch whales, but nobody may chase, crowd, touch or cut off a whale on purpose. Brazil’s coast is one of the great whale coasts of the South Atlantic, and its whale law is surprisingly short and clear.

The longer answer has a few moving parts, and one of them changed only a few weeks ago. I will go through it slowly, and I will tell you where I am sure and where I am not.

What Brazil’s whale watching law actually says

The foundation is federal Law 7.643, signed on 18 December 1987. It has only five articles, and the first one does most of the work. It prohibits fishing, and any form of intentional molestation, of every species of cetacean in Brazilian waters. Cetaceans simply means whales, dolphins and porpoises, so the law is not only about the big animals you see from the beach. It applies everywhere in Brazilian waters, not only inside marine parks.

The second article sets the penalty: two to five years in prison and a fine, and the loss of the boat if someone does it again. A press report on the 2026 rules also mentions Decree 6.514 of 2008 as part of the enforcement framework. I did not find a clear, current summary of administrative fines in an official source, so I will not quote those numbers here.

For a visitor, the key word is "intentional". Nobody can promise that a whale will never change course near a boat. The law looks at the choices people make on purpose: steering into a whale’s path, cutting between animals, staying on top of a group that is trying to leave. A close photograph is never a reason to do any of these things.

For many years the practical details came from an IBAMA ordinance, Portaria 117 of 1996, later amended in 2002. Summaries of it describe a 100 metre minimum distance for boats with engines running, engines in neutral when approaching humpbacks, no following a whale for more than 30 minutes, and no approach when two or more boats are already with the animals. Those summaries are older, so read them as history, not as today’s rule.

What changed in 2026?

According to Brazilian press reports, IBAMA and ICMBio signed a new joint ordinance, Portaria Conjunta nº 4/2026, on 7 August 2026, and it was published in the Diário Oficial da União on 11 August 2026. The reports say it replaces the ordinances of 1996 and 2002.

The reports describe minimum distances for boats, for faster craft such as jet skis, for swimmers and divers and for drones, with a larger distance for the southern right whale. They also describe a speed limit near the animals, a time limit for each observation and a shorter one when a calf is present. Activity is reported to stop at once if a mother and her calf separate, or if the animals change their natural behaviour. I have left out the exact numbers on purpose. I could not find the official text in the Diário Oficial da União or on the IBAMA and ICMBio websites, and different reports give some details differently.

Here is my honest caveat. Everything in this section comes from news reports and summaries, not from the official text, and one source mentions a later amendment that I could not confirm. Protected areas can also add their own rules on top of the national ones. So please do not turn a distance you read online into a national rule. Check the current rule with IBAMA, ICMBio or the local protected area before you travel, and ask your licensed operator which version they follow at that exact site.

Why the distance matters: mothers, calves and a busy coast

A calf needs to breathe, rest and feed. A mother needs a clear path along the coast. A boat that cuts across that path, even for one photograph, can push them apart. That is why the new text, as reported, tells boats to stop when a mother and calf separate. Our note on why whale rules get stricter around mothers and calves explains this in more detail.

Humpback whales of the western South Atlantic spend the southern winter and spring on the Brazilian continental shelf to breed and give birth. Their range runs roughly from Natal to Cabo Frio, but the heart of it is the Abrolhos Bank, in the south of Bahia, where researchers expect about 80% of the animals each breeding season. Around the Abrolhos archipelago, a survey found calves in 49.8% of whale groups within 9.3 km of the islands, which shows how important the area is for newborns. The researcher behind it recommends managing the area in zones, to protect mothers and calves from whale watching disturbance. You can meet the species on our humpback whale Atlas page.

Further south, in Santa Catarina, the Área de Proteção Ambiental da Baleia Franca was created by federal decree on 14 September 2000, along the coast of Garopaba, Laguna and Imbituba. It covers 154,867 hectares, has its headquarters in Imbituba, and exists above all to protect the southern right whale, together with other threatened species such as the toninha dolphin and sea turtles. A 2018 report said boat visits there need prior authorisation, with one boat at a time in the bays. Those details are several years old, so check locally.

The conservation layer: recovery is real, and it is fragile

There is good news here. The humpbacks that breed off Brazil were counted from the air in 2008 and again in 2012, and in a comparable area the estimate rose from 16,410 to 19,429 whales. A 2023 paper then estimated about 24,900 humpbacks in the western South Atlantic in 2019, around 93% of the number before whaling. That is a recovery story, and Brazil is part of it.

But a recovering population does not make disturbance harmless. More whales also means more boats, more calves close to shore, and more chances for a rushed approach. Rules like these are how people share the water while the animals keep their quiet time.

Humpbacks reach the Abrolhos region in the middle of the year. The sources I found say roughly from June or July to November, with breeding and calving inside that period. Dates move from year to year, and a season is never a promise of a sighting.

Whale watching in Brazil, step by step

Choose an operator who can tell you, without hesitation, which rules they follow and where those rules come from. Ask how close they go, how long they stay, and what they do when a whale dives or changes direction. A good answer includes the moment they leave.

You watch from a licensed boat. You stay on board. You do not ask the skipper to go closer than the briefing allows. If another boat is already with the animals, you wait your turn, or you let it go. Keep your voice low, stay seated when asked, and let the guide decide the distance. If the boat starts to chase, it is fair to say something. The law is on the whale’s side, and you can be too.

This is easier when your hands are free and your eyes are on the water. A roll-top dry bag keeps the phone and a warm layer dry on a boat day, and a mineral sunscreen from our storefront list is one less thing to think about once you are out there.

Sometimes a whale moves toward a boat that is sitting quietly, and it can be one of the most moving moments of a life at sea. The calm answer is the right one: the engine goes to neutral or off when the skipper says it is safe, everyone stays seated, and nobody reaches out or moves the boat to follow. A whale that chooses to come close is a gift, and a gift does not need your hands. It can also choose to leave, and the boat should make that easy.

Wildlife encounters are unpredictable. Whale watching should always follow local regulations and experienced professional guidance.

What this means for how we choose where to go

Ocean Calling does not run whale trips in Brazil, and we do not sell whale swims in places where the law says no. In Brazil the rule is clear enough for us: we watch, and we do not swim. Where a legal, well-managed swim exists, we keep groups small, with a maximum of six guests, and we leave an animal alone the moment it shows it has had enough. You can read how we think about this in where swimming with whales is legal, and why, and in Brazil’s whale law in short.

If this made you curious about experiencing whales in a place where the rules are written down, you can explore our Moʻorea whale weeks. Travel also has a cost for the ocean, with flights and boats, so we prefer fewer, slower trips over a long list of places.

Questions people ask

Wildlife encounters are never guaranteed and never forced. Ocean Calling works only with vetted, ethical local operators, and every animal is free to approach, or not, entirely on its own terms.