THE coronavirus pandemic may spell disaster for Hervey Bay’s whale watching season if social distancing measures are not lifted by July.

Director of operations for Pacific Whale Foundation Australia, Andrew Ellis said if companies were to run tours, boats across various companies would be severely restricted in the number of passengers they could take.

He said the ridged inflatable boat operated by Pacific Whale Foundation could seat 40 people during a regular season.

However, social distancing measures mean they would only be able to seat 10 passengers.

The business would not be financially viable if restrictions continued through the entire whale season, he said.

If restrictions were lifted before or during the whale season, it would provide a much needed lift for Hervey Bay’s tourism industry.

Missing the whale watching season because of coronavirus restrictions would mean eight months without income before the start of the 2021 season, Mr Ellis said.

It’s not just the tourism side of the business that will suffer, as the funds generated by whale watching tours go back into the foundation’s education and conservation efforts.

The well being of the visiting ocean giants needed to be taken into account as well, according to Wally Franklin of the Oceania Project.

He was concerned about the impact the virus may possibly have on humpback whales.

Virus transmission from humans to other mammals was possible but would require very close contact, adjunct professor Graham Burgess from the College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences at James Cook University told the ABC.

He said any mammal was a potential carrier of coronavirus.

“What that would suggest is any mammalian host is a possibility, if we try hard enough we can probably infect almost any mammalian host,” he said.

“In order to transmit it, those animals are going to have to be exposed to an infectious host and that’s not easy, you have to have pretty close contact.”

Dr Franklin encouraged tourists and tour operators to use common sense regarding hygiene to protect the ocean giants.