This week marked the completion of the return of the 10 orcas from the “whale jail” in Russia to the Sea of Okhotsk, from where they were captured last year.
This is exceptional progress, and so many of you have made this possible through your participation and support of our Whale Aid Russia program.
Both the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Sakhalin Environmental Watch activist group have said that the release of the orcas could not have been accomplished without the work of the Jean-Michel Cousteau/Whale Sanctuary Project team.
Seeing these whales swimming exuberantly in the open sea for the first time in almost a year is heartwarming. You can see and feel the “joy” of the whales in the photos and videos.
That is not to say that the releases have all gone perfectly. The Russian government contracted with the fishing companies (the captors) to transport the whales back to the waters from which they were taken. And while there was certainly some logic to doing it this way, the government did not accept, or believed they could not execute, some of our recommendations for the releases.
For example, we had outlined methodologies for preparing the whales for transport, keeping them in larger transport containers, and adapting them to the open ocean in sea pens at the release site prior to release. Instead the Russians have been releasing the whales from their transport boxes immediately upon reaching the release site after a five-day transport.
We also pressed for independent monitoring of the whole program. And this was introduced for the third transport/release, with Greenpeace Russia being invited to officially observe the entire operation.
But overall, the process has been successful. And yesterday, August 29th, Grigory Tsidulko, a member of the Council for Marine Mammals and of the Whale Sanctuary Project team, reported that the orca known as Vasilievna, who had been part of the first group of orcas released on June 27th, had been seen hunting and sharing food with a group of wild whales. This is a milestone in the program, showing that these captured orcas can indeed be returned to the ocean and successfully find their families or another group that will adopt them.
Next: Returning the remaining 75 belugas
Photo courtesy of VNIRO
Along with the 10 orcas in the first phase of the transport/release program, 12 belugas were also returned to the ocean, leaving 75 to be released before the onset of winter.
Because of the large number involved and the difficulty in tracking belugas once they are released, this next phase will likely be the most challenging. We are in continuing contact with the scientists overseeing the program and are providing additional suggestions and recommendations.
Meanwhile, we are also advising on the monitoring of all the whales. Many of them have satellite tags attached to their dorsal fins, and we have proposed additional methodologies for tracking them to increase the likelihood of visual contact. This will help us to establish if they have joined other wild whales, which is very important for their long-term well-being.
All in all, there is still much to do to complete the release of the rest of the original 97 orcas and belugas before the weather changes.
At the same time, we are also negotiating with the Ministry of Natural Resources, at their invitation, for a longer-term relationship, and we are keeping pressure on Russia to fulfill their public statement to end the capture of orcas and belugas altogether.
(Two months ago, during President Putin’s annual “Direct Line” televised phone-in with the Russian people, Deputy Prime Minister Gordeyev announced that the government would change the law in order to ban hunting whales for “educational and cultural purposes” – a loophole used to capture these whales.)
We know that the government is getting a lot of pushback from fishing companies, and a permanent ban on the capture of wild whales and dolphins for sale to marine entertainment parks – mostly in China – has to be an ultimate goal of all of this work.
Again, none of what has been accomplished so far would have been possible without the continuing participation and support of so many of you. And while there is still much to be completed, we should all take a moment to recognize that this is a landmark event: the largest whale rescue and release program in history. Thank you again.