We work to transform the way people relate to whales and dolphins by bringing an end to their exploitation and by creating authentic coastal sanctuaries, assisting with international marine mammal rescues, and advancing whale and dolphin science.

While there has been a sea change in public attitudes toward keeping these highly intelligent and socially complex animals in concrete tanks for the purposes of entertainment, there is still no possibility of retiring them since there’s nowhere for them to go. The sanctuary we are establishing in Nova Scotia will act as a proof of concept for many more to come.

A sanctuary is, by definition, a place where the wellbeing of the residents is always the priority. The four basic questions we ask about any facility that advertises itself as a sanctuary are:

• Does it engage in performances, demonstrations or displays?
• Are visitors allowed access to the animals for commercial purposes like rides, petting pools and up-close photos with the animals?
• Does it allow breeding?
• And overall, does it have any priorities other than the well-being of the animals?

If the answer to any of those questions is “Yes,” then it’s not an authentic sanctuary.

While we would like to see all captive animals returned to their native habitat, this is not always possible. In particular, whales who have been born in captivity and have never experienced life in the ocean with their family have never learned the skills they require to survive in the wild. They need lifetime care where they can thrive in a natural setting that’s as close as possible to what they would experience in the open ocean.

If injured, stranded or recently captured whales are brought to the sanctuary, they will be treated and assessed, and every effort will be made to release them.

Rescue work is a principal part of our Whale Aid programs. You can read more about them here.

An authentic sanctuary provides a valuable way to study cetaceans in a non-invasive and non-intrusive environment. Most studies in the open ocean require a lot of time and expense since, just for starters, the whales and dolphins are constantly on the move and require a lot of tracking. And studies that are conducted on cetaceans in concrete tanks, where their physical, mental and emotional health is compromised, cannot easily be generalized to their counterparts in the ocean, they are of limited value. A sanctuary, by contrast, provides an opportunity to study whales in an environment that more closely resembles life in the ocean while being in a relatively accessiblearea.

You can check out our profile on GuideStar, which gives the Whale Sanctuary Project its Platinum Seal of Transparency. GuideStar is the world’s largest source of nonprofit information.

Our financial information is also available to the public on GuideStar through the IRS Form 990 that we submit to the U.S. government each year. The 990 report also includes a breakdown of our programs. (To view this information, you will need only to create a free login at GuideStar.)

After researching more than 130 locations in Washington State, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, the Whale Sanctuary Project selected Port Hilford Bay, Nova Scotia, as the best site to create a seaside sanctuary for whales being retired from entertainment parks. The sanctuary site is located on the ancestral lands of the Mi’kmaq people, a First Nations community. Their guidance and consultation is an invaluable part of the sanctuary development process.

Our original estimate was $12-15 million U.S. for the creation of the sanctuary, some of which has already raised and spent. The costs will continue to be estimates until we have firm costs for the net and the bay pen and the installation of these. As regards care of the whales, we estimate $1.5-to-2 million per year. This long-term care will be covered through endowments, sustaining donations, and other revenue-generating opportunities like educational materials and programs.

A coastal sanctuary is entirely different from a “sea cage” or even a sea pen captive facility. Sea pens are smaller structures that are suited to the temporary accommodation of whales and other marine mammals needing special care and/or veterinary treatment. The sanctuary we’re creating in Nova Scotia will include a sea pen for new arrivals before they are released into the main sanctuary area and for any resident whales who need special care and/or treatment.

Orcas and belugas would be housed in separate areas of the sanctuary. With 100+ acres there’s plenty of space.

People will be able to view the whales from a respectful distance, like from the eastern shore of the bay. We also plan to create an interpretive center, where visitors can watch live video feeds of the whales from cameras around the sanctuary, learn more about whales and dolphins, and immerse themselves in state-of-the-art virtual reality displays that will offer remarkable experiences of a whale’s life in the ocean.

Most certainly. There was gold mining in this area of Nova Scotia from the 1880s to the 1930s. When we learned about its history in Port Hilford Bay, we consulted with experts and concluded that we should do a complete environmental site assessment to see whether any mitigation work is appropriate.

Through three years of testing, we have not detected any heavy metals in the water column and in Fall 2023 we completed analysis of soils on sanctuary lands and in submerged soils down to 25 centimeters. You can see the laboratory results in this post.

Whale sanctuaries are in their formative years and the detailed work we are doing now to forge this new territory will be of value not only to the sanctuary in Nova Scotia, but to the many more that are needed across the globe.

As soon as we selected Port Hilford Bay in 2020 after a two-year site search, we began a meticulous series of environmental studies to understand the environment for the whales. Some of the analyses that are required for the wellbeing of the whales and for the official permitting process have required studies to be conducted over a three-year period. And the government agencies to which we report have no existing precedents or protocols. So, we work closely with all levels of government.

Overall, it is a complex and collaborative process.

Our aspirational estimate for when the first whales could come to the sanctuary is in early 2025.

The three principal current challenges are:

Funding. This comes in two forms:

• One-time capital costs (land purchase, construction, etc.). These are covered by benefactors, foundations and angel donors. So far, we have close to $6 million in pledges and restricted donations. We are now raising an additional $6-to-9 million.

• Daily operational costs cover every aspect of current site development from environmental studies to architectural work and, in the future, to the care of the whales. This essential daily work urgently needs your continuing support.

Your donations make this work possible. Thank you for being part of the Whale Sanctuary Project.

Site mitigation:

As noted above, part of our due diligence in Nova Scotia involved consideration of historical gold mining in several regions of the province from the 1880s to the 1930s. We learned that there would likely be remnants of gold mine tailings on any site we select, and that environmental site assessments (ESAs) would be required to determine any necessary mitigation measures. In July 2023, we completed the ESAs and are awaiting the results to see what mitigation work is recommended before we can apply for permits.

Disinformation campaigns:

While several marine parks and aquariums have been enthusiastic about collaborating with us to retire whales to sanctuary, this is not always the case.

For example, in December 2021, just three days after we held our first formal discussions with Marineland Canada about transferring some of their whales to the sanctuary, the company was charged by the Niagara police with using whales and dolphins for entertainment purposes, which is prohibited under the 2019 Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act. Marineland immediately broke off discussions with the Whale Sanctuary Project and instead issued a 78-page document attacking both the concept of sanctuary and our plans for the sanctuary in Nova Scotia. In the months that followed, full-scale campaigns of disinformation began to spread across social media.

By contrast, the new owner of the Miami Seaquarium agreed in 2022 to work with the non-profit Friends of Toki with a view to returning the orca Tokitae to her home waters in the Pacific Northwest, from where she had been captured 1970. Sadly, Toki died of pneumonia, kidney degeneration and endocarditis while she was still being treated in preparation for travel back home. But the effort was, nonetheless, an unprecedented collaboration to chart a course for a captive whale to return to her home waters. 

In today’s world, social media platforms are flooded with misinformation. If you are hearing or reading questionable material about the Whale Sanctuary Project, other authentic sanctuaries, or the sanctuary movement overall, please diligently check your sources and feel free to reach out to us at any time for information.

We are engaged in discussions with marine entertainment parks and aquariums that are open to working with us in a collaborative and cooperative relationship to prepare whales for transfer to sanctuary.

Whales are transported between captive facilities all the time. Depending on geographical location, they can be transported in container baths by boat, road or plane. Although this can be quite stressful for the animals, every step will be taken to make their travel as comfortable as possible.

The routine feeding will be with thawed frozen human grade fish. Orcas eat 45 kilograms and more of fish per day and belugas eat 18-25 kilos per day, and it is not possible for them to forage for that quantity within a sanctuary. Food must be provided, and whales coming from entertainment facilities will have been eating fish. Most whales coming from entertainment parks do not know that live fish are food and don’t know how to hunt for fish. They are used to a diet of thawed frozen fish and this will be their diet at the sanctuary.

No, they will not jump over the nets. Belugas do not jump and although technically an orca could jump over a net, they never do. Research indicates that they “see” a net as a barrier that goes up without limit because they do not see over it and they therefore do not think of it as something to go over. For our net we have a custom designed perimeter system from which the nets will be anchored to the seabed. The nets will act as a barrier that neither whales within the sanctuary nor any whales from outside the sanctuary can jump.

The net system is custom designed so that the mesh is large enough for fish to swim through and small enough that the whales cannot get caught in it. The custom design and anchoring system keeps the net taught so that there is no billowing in tide changes, which also prevents animals from being caught in net.

Based on our environmental research of the sanctuary area and research with scientists, wildlife researchers and fishers throughout Nova Scotia, our sanctuary site has few species of concern that visit the area and the primary concern for animals who could get tangled in the net is for pinnipeds and turtles. We have outlined mitigation protocols for these species for preventing entanglement and will have 24/7 security around the nets.

Authentic sanctuaries don’t allow breeding because they do not want to be in the business of creating more captive animals. We don’t want there to be any captive animals anywhere – not even in sanctuaries. At a sanctuary, birth control methods can still allow sexual behavior, just as they do in humans.

(One thing that most people don’t know is that many captive dolphins and whales in marine parks are artificially inseminated.)

The sanctuary residents may come from a number of different facilities or different tanks. So, we need to understand the relationships of each resident before they come into the sanctuary. We will observe them closely from the beginning and see how they adjust and then make decisions about conflicts based on the experience of veterinarians and trainers. If need be, we can separate individuals either temporarily or permanently. The sanctuary configuration will allow us to have that flexibility. Ideally, we would like the sanctuary residents to form their own social group.

For whales who spend their lives in concrete tanks, aggression is common because of the level of stress they experience. And when aggression erupts, there is nowhere for them to go to get out of the way. The space they will have in a sanctuary environment will reduce the buildup of stress significantly.

Our staff, board and advisory group include experts in many areas related to cetaceans. For example, in 2018, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration invited the Whale Sanctuary Project, along with several other organizations, to join an emergency effort in the Pacific Northwest to try to save the life of the orca J-50, a starving four-year-old member of the endangered Southern Resident population. (While ultimately unsuccessful, it was a pioneering effort that has paved the way for future efforts of this kind.)

Our largest effort was our involvement in Whale Aid Russia, which involved 10 orcas and 87 beluga whales who had been captured illegally in the Sea of Okhotsk for sale to marine entertainment parks in China. The Russian government invited the Whale Sanctuary Project to bring a team to assist the government and Russian non-profits in assessing the condition of the whales and in advising and supporting their successful return to the ocean. It was the largest whale rescue project in history.

In 2021, at the request of the Sacred Lands Conservancy, an indigenous-led non-profit on the West Coast, expert members of the Whale Sanctuary Project team drafted and submitted a comprehensive operational plan to safely bring the orca Tokitae (generally known by her display name “Lolita”) from the Miami Seaquarium back to her home in the Salish Sea. This was a Whale Aid Project

The following year, at the request of the new owners of the Seaquarium, we assisted in the establishing of Friends of Toki, a new non-profit that was dedicated to returning Toki to her home in the Pacific Northwest. While members of the Whale Sanctuary team participated in the work of Friends of Toki, it was not a Whale Aid project and was neither managed nor funded by the Whale Sanctuary Project. Any time spent on it by Whale Sanctuary staff members was compensated by Friends of Toki donors.

Not necessarily. It depends upon what work you are doing. If you’re working in the area of animal health and behavior, a degree in biology, psychology, zoology, ecology, or veterinary science is important. But there will also be a need for many different skills and positions at the sanctuary, including public education and outreach, marine operations, security and general care and upkeep of the sanctuary.

If you are thinking of working at any facility that cares for animals, you should have a good background in science, along with some experience working in that area. This might include completing an internship or working in volunteer positions. Scientific training is important, but “on-the-ground” skills are needed as well.

Many scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to decode the sounds whales make so that we can learn more about how whales communicate with one another. AI can be helpful because it identifies patterns in sounds. 

Sanctuaries can play an important role in providing recordings of the whales as they encounter different features of the sanctuary under circumstances that more closely resemble a natural setting.

Marine parks depend upon ticket sales, so it’s not always in their interest to give the public a complete picture of the lives and welfare of dolphins and whales in captivity. For example, educating people to the true plight of these large, ocean-going animals being confined in small tanks is not conducive to having your audience feel good about watching them performing artificial behaviors that they’ve been trained to do.

At an authentic sanctuary, the only priority is the health and wellbeing of the whales themselves. So, there is complete freedom to educate the public about their lives, how they’re doing, and why they should have been living their lives in the open ocean with their families. Sanctuary education is fundamentally more authentic.

Construction of the sanctuary is funded by angel donors. As an example, the Wendy P. McCaw Foundation has pledged $5 million toward construction. Other funds are held in a restricted account to purchase land. These funds become available when we have completed the permitting process and when fundraising for construction is complete.

The daily operations of our work – including, for example all the environmental assessments and studies – are funded by your donations: either one-time gifts, large or small, or sustaining monthly commitments of any size. In the future, operational funds will go toward the care of the whales and all the other work of running the sanctuary.

The Whale Sanctuary Project is designated by the IRS as a tax-deductible 501c3 charity in the United States. The Canadian organization Whale Sanctuary Canada can accept your donation but is still awaiting tax-deductible status.

Spread the word in every way you can. Many people do not even know that sanctuaries are possible for whales.

• Share our short film Whales Without Walls, It is a great way to tell the story of what this work is about and why the need for sanctuaries is so pressing;
• Share our social media posts, blog posts from the website and webinars from our Live Series; 
• Tell other people the stories of the whales currently in captivity.;
• Create your own unique fundraiser through Facebook, GoFundMe, or some enjoyable activity in your community;
• Learn about the science of how and why whales cannot thrive in impoverished captive environments;
• Here on the website, subscribe to our newsletter and donate to the creation of the sanctuary;
• If you have skills that you think would be of particular value, please contact us at info@whalesanctuary.org .

Thank you for being part of the Whale Sanctuary Project!