Dr. Lori Marino, President of The Whale Sanctuary Project, and board member Charles Vinick spent a week in Nova Scotia as part of the whale sanctuary site selection process.
They were joined by two expert members of the advisory group: Catherine Kinsman, who lives in N.S. and has extensive experience with whales, especially belugas; and Kathryn Sussman, who is part of Zoocheck and helped make connections with the various government officials with whom we need to be working. The executive director of Zoocheck, Rob Laidlaw, also came in from Toronto to advise and lend support during our meetings.
Nova Scotia is beautiful, with hundreds of coves, bays and inlets. Some of these had been highlighted by our Google Earth survey team; others were recommendations by Catherine and others. Some of them will be ruled out by the fact that coastal waters are too shallow for whales to be comfortable, but we have more exploration to do as we hone in on a few promising sites.
The officials we met could not have been more welcoming and helpful. In particular they believe that a seaside whale sanctuary would be an asset to the local community and its economy.
Over the next three months, we’ll be visiting three more regions: Maine on the east coast, and Washington and British Columbia on the west. And then we’ll be narrowing the list down to a small handful of sites that merit detailed environmental and physical oceanography evaluation, as well as more extensive engagement with local communities.