On December 15th, we held a webinar with supporters from around the world to catch everyone up on progress toward the creation of the whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia.
In the webinar, Dr. Lori Marino, President of the Whale Sanctuary Project, and Charles Vinick, our Executive Director, answered questions ranging from when the sanctuary will be ready to welcome the first whales to how they will adapt to their new environment, and from what happens if there’s a break in the perimeter net to what kinds of employment opportunities there will be.
Here is a video recording of the webinar:
Before turning to the general Q&A, Charles brought viewers up to date on some recent contacts we’ve had with Marineland Canada, an entertainment park that holds about 40 beluga whales and the lone orca Kiska. Most recently, last week we had an in-person discussion with Marineland about the possibility of transferring whales from their facility to the sanctuary at the appropriate time. The meeting was cordial and positive, and we even set some dates to meet after the first of the year.
Three days later, however, the Niagara police charged Marineland with using whales and dolphins for entertainment purposes, which is prohibited under the federal government’s anti-captivity laws. And rather than responding to these charges directly, Marineland apparently tried to deflect the attention of the news media by sending them an extensive document they had written about the suitability of the Whale Sanctuary site at Port Hilford Bay.
One section of their document raises questions about environmental pollution in the bay due to gold mining in the 1860’s through the 1930’s, and the closing of the bay to shellfish fishing. Charles addressed this question, saying that we have been studying the water for more than 18 months, that we have yet to find any significant issues in the bay waters, and that we will continue to share all our findings with the government regulators to ensure that there are no risks to whales who may come to the sanctuary.
(We should perhaps also note that it’s a bit ironic that earlier this year, an inspection of Marineland by Ontario’s Animal Welfare Services found that marine mammals at the facility were in distress due to poor water quality.)
Charles and Lori then turned to the general Q&A. Your questions are always welcome, and we look forward to keeping you up to date with more “Ask Us Anything” webinars in the year ahead.
Thank you for being part of the Whale Sanctuary Project, and we wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday and a good New Year.