The Ministry of the Environment expects more than 60,000 national and foreign tourists to visit Samana Bay during the Whale Watching Season, which begins today, Thursday 15 January and will last until 30 March 2015. At a press conference to announce the start of the season, Minister of Environment Bautista Rojas Gomez said that the Dominican Armada (Navy) would be supervising the compliance of regulations by whale-watching boats to ensure that the whales continue to come to Dominican waters. The whale-watching season brings thousands of dollars worth in income to tourist businesses in the Samana area.