Last Captive Whales Released From Russian ‘Whale Jail’
Russia has finally released the last whales from the country’s notorious “whale jail.” (The Sun)
Russian officials announced on November 10 that the last of dozens of beluga whales being held in a notorious facility dubbed the “whale jail” in Russia’s Far East had been released.
Authorities from the Russian Federal Research Institute for Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) divided the belugas into three groups and transported them over ten days to Uspeniya Bay, which is about 62 miles away from the “whale jail.” The bay is not the beluga whales’ native habitat, and with the presence of North Korean hunting ships as an additional threat, advocates released a joint statement calling the release location “not ideal.” However, authorities believed it was the best option for the whales given weather and funding concerns.
Drone footage showing dozens of orcas and belugas struggling to swim through ice-encrusted waters in their small pens at a secretive facility in Srednyaya Bay near the town of Nakhodka, came to international attention in late 2018.
The whales were reportedly due to be sold to Chinese theme parks. The captive cetacean industry continues to expand rapidly, as the number of entertainment facilities such as aquariums and marine parks continues to grow, even though this industry has declined in some parts of the world. Many of the 950 cetaceans currently on display in China are imported from Russia.
Swift international outcry against the “whale jail” prompted Kremlin intervention, with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev promising to release the 87 beluga whales and 11 orcas earlier in March.
The release operation began in late June this year and was monitored by 70 specialists, including veterinarians and scientists. Authorities from VNIRO transported the first batch of whales to the Sea of Okhotsk, their original point of capture, 1,100 miles away. Each whale was accompanied by two people and equipped with a GPS tracker before its release. Russian President Vladimir Putin personally monitored the initial phases of the operation.
Two of the four Russian firms involved in capturing the whales were fined in June. White Whale LLC was fined $435,000, and Oceanarium DV was fined $870,000. Cases against the remaining two firms, Afalina LLC and Sochi Dolphinarium LLC, are still ongoing.
Currently, Russian legislation allows for the capturing of whales for “educational and cultural purposes,” a loophole which Russian fisheries have long exploited to capture whales to sell to aquariums. Gordeyev vowed to close the loophole and tighten laws regarding the capture of cetaceans. Should the federal laws be amended and those changes enacted, legal capture of cetaceans would only include scientific purposes and would mean the end of Russia’s commercial cetacean trade. Charles Vinick, executive director of the U.S.-based Whale Sanctuary Project, called the move a “monumental” development.