There’s a growing public awareness about the suffering of captive whales, especially since the release of Blackfish in 2013, and latest reports indicate that Sea World’s profits have dropped 84 percent. It’s perplexing, then, that some companies would still fight so hard to try to capture wild whales from the oceans and import them into the U.S. for an outdated and failing business model.
Naomi Rose for The HSUS
Fortunately, there was good news on this issue yesterday, when a federal court upheld the National Marine Fisheries Service’s denial of an import permit application from the Georgia Aquarium. The case has critical implications for both the conservation of wild populations of marine mammals and the welfare of whales held in captivity in U.S. exhibition facilities.
In 2012, the Georgia Aquarium (in cooperation with three Sea World facilities and two other aquariums) sought permission to import 18 beluga whales captured from the Sea of Okhotsk near Russia by a company seeking to sell the majestic white whales to an exhibition facility. When the whales were captured in 2010, five of them were less than two years old and were likely still nursing and not yet independent of their mothers (who were not captured). The federal government rejected the permit application, finding that the Georgia Aquarium failed to demonstrate, as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, that the import would not likely have an adverse impact on the species and that the import would not likely result in the capture of additional beluga whales.
The court found that the agency’s decision was well-reasoned and dismissed the aquarium’s lawsuit challenging the permit denial. The Humane Society of the United States had filed a brief to provide the court with information about the serious animal welfare and marine conservation concerns inherent in capturing and transporting these highly intelligent and sensitive beings for captive exhibition.
The decision makes clear that the “primary purpose of the MMPA is to protect marine mammals” and “was not intended as a ‘balancing act’ between the interests of industry and the animals.” It’s an important step in the trend toward ending the inhumane and unsustainable trade in wild cetaceans, or marine mammals, by U.S. exhibition facilities—indeed, it has been more than 20 years since the last wild-caught cetacean was imported directly into the U.S. for public display, and even Sea World now claims it would not take the whales if they were imported.
It means the government’s decision to reject these cruel imports will stand, and it reinforces a comprehensive record of protecting marine life during President Obama’s administration. Just last year, President Obama issued an executive order expanding the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to 490,000 square miles—six times its current size—making it the largest marine monument in the world. The sanctuary is expected to protect nearly two dozen types of living marine mammals, along with threatened species of sea turtles.
In addition, the Department of Commerce revised the regulations governing the dolphin-safe label, requiring that all fisheries provide a certification that no dolphins were killed or seriously injured during the harvesting of tuna. NMFS also finalized rules to restrict fishing gear harmful to endangered right whales and permanently extend speed limits for ships along the east coast to prevent collisions with endangered whales. Most recently, NMFS took a significant step for global protections of marine mammals by issuing a proposed rule aimed at deterring foreign commercial fishing activities from harming these animals.
But there is still much to be done to address the plight of captive marine mammals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture drafted a proposed rule back in 2012 to set improved standards, including space requirements and water quality for marine mammals kept in exhibition facilities, but that rule has been languishing and has not yet been issued for public comment. It’s been more than two decades since the agency began working on this regulation and each day of delay means more suffering for the hundreds of orcas, belugas, dolphins, seals and sea lions used for commercial entertainment and interactive “swim-with” experiences.
Members of Congress are urging the White House to issue its long-delayed proposed rule, with Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., leading the effort in the House, and Senators Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., winning an amendment on the issue in the Senate Appropriations Committee by a vote of 18 to 12.
The Obama administration has taken major steps forward for whales, but now must finish the job to establish more humane standards of care for captive marine mammals.
