No more capture of beluga and killer whales in Russia's Arctic

The world came together with fury after realising 90 Beluga and 11 Orca whales were held in small enclosures before transaction to China’s ocean theme park market. The international Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute sent a letter to the US Russian Ambassador to put pressure on an investigation, while 25 marine mammal scientists sent another to the government to explain the harm of such captures for the whales held captive and those left behind in the pods, urging them to stop all issuance of capture permits. Russian conservationists captured the attention of the Russian media and launched their own investigations which resulted in a series of stories disclosing the captures and questions the legality of the permits issued by the government in 2018. The news also attracted the attention of international news outlets such as The Guardian, CNN and CBS News that escalated the news internationally.

With all the support gathered from the people of Russia and international activists, the Russian government agency has decided that no new permits will be issued in 2019 and further ruled that all captures of whales in the future will only be for educational or scientific purposes.

Russia had previously introduced a law after an environmental analysis of the impact of dolphin and whale capture was conducted, stating that orcas and belugas cannot be captured except for educational purposes or for scientific research. Therefore, selling Orcas to the Chinese market violates that law. However, in 2018, after a rushed environmental assessment by a group of equivocal scientists, four companies were allowed to capture up to 13 Orcas–11 of which are presently held in the small enclosure along with 90 beluga whales in the Pacific Coast awaiting transport to China.

A Russian agency has recently denied the export permits for some of the Beluga whales–yet the fate of the 11 Orcas and 90 Belugas is still unknown at this time. The IMMP and Russian conservationists have demanded that these animals are to be returned to their pods in the ocean, but with many layers present in the Russian government, it’s important for everyone to watch for any regressions and remain vigilant.

As Russia is the only country in the world that exports whales and hold them captive for profits, hopefully this is the first step towards ending such practices.

China's ocean theme park boom is a major driving force in the capture of whales and dolphins around the world.

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Please sign the petition to ban all captures of cetaceans in Russia: https://www.change.org/p/urgent-ban-all-wild-captures-of-cetaceans-from-russian-waters-immediately-%...

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