Amid calls that whales and dolphins in
captivity are "cruel" - the Vancouver Aquarium showcases research aimed
at improving belugas' lives in a warming Arctic
In a PR push apparently aimed at winning Vancouverites’ hearts and
minds over a controversial beluga captivity program, the Vancouver
Aquarium put forward its pioneering whale communication scientist for a
media blitz to showcase why the whales are needed for important Arctic
research.
“I am very proud of the research that we are doing,”
said Dr. Valeria Vergara, who will be headed to the high Arctic next
week to study the effects of melting ice and increased boat traffic on
belugas.
“The long term acoustic
communication research that was conducted here on the belugas in the
aquarium is a real catalyst for research in the wild.”
Vergara
said years of listening to belugas at the aquarium’s whale tanks led to
her discovery of one of the creature’s most important biological
conversations – how a mother calls out to her baby calves.
“At
the aquarium, I discovered contact calls – this is essential, because
we knew nothing of the function of the hundreds of calls that belugas
produce.”
But in the wild, she said, that beluga communication is increasingly
threatened by an explosion of loud ship traffic in the Arctic. The
number of vessels in the region has spiked 35 per cent since 2007,
according to Canadian Coast Guard records.
“The [beluga] signals
can very easily be masked by boat noise. And an enormous amount of
[Arctic] channels that were not navigable in the past are opening up to
all sorts of oil and gas exploration activities, shipping, eco-tourism –
even research – and belugas are acoustic animals and extremely
sensitive to noise.”
Despite the sheer vastness of the high north waters, belugas are loyal to little coves and estuaries, where ships might roam.
The aquarium in Stanley Park is home to two female belugas. “Aurora”
gave birth to her daughter “Qila” at the facility. The aquarium only
uses whales born in captivity, or those rescued from the wild but no
longer deemed able to survive on their own.
Phasing out of belugas demanded
But
several politicians, including Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and
Councillor Adriane Carr have said they want the belugas and dolphins
phased out. Citizen’s groups have also pushed this idea for more than a
decade.
“I believe the only reason the whales are kept in
captivity is to make money, not to do research or conservation,” said
Annelise Sorg, President of
No Whales In Captivity.
“A water circus is not education.”
She
said several aquaria worldwide have divested dolphins and whales. The
West Edmonton Mall rid itself of its dolphin shows after some of the
creatures died, and a former Victoria public aquarium (that closed in
1992) also ended its orca program.
Former Green Party Park Board Commissioner
Stuart Mackinnon has also long opposed cetaceans in captivity.
“These are highly evolved creatures, and to do experiments or to keep them in tiny pools is actually cruel.”
“I
imagine [the beluga’s life in captivity] would be the same if they put
you or myself in a basketball court for the rest of our lives, and never
let us out.”
“These are creatures that in their natural habitat swim thousands of miles, and we’re putting them into a small pool.”
Mackinnon
said research shows captivity gives whales handicaps, because of the
small space where the creatures seem to circle endlessly.
An
online petition to push the City hold a referendum on the captivity issue during the November 15th civic election now has 16,000 signatures.
Vergara
said she wants what is best for the belugas – and for her, that means
doing research aimed at improving their lives in the wild.
“I
think the question to ask is how best to help beluga whales -- we all
care about them. We’re in this together, it shouldn’t be a dichotomy.”
“One
of the things we can do is use the whales under human care as
ambassadors for their wild counterparts, and one of the ways to do that
is to do really good research,” said Vergara at a press conference
Wednesday.
As a sign of how concerned the public aquarium is to public
opposition, gleeful MCs – who oversee the daily belugas shows, where
whales jump for fish and splash unsuspecting tourists – now invite
visitors to contact politicians to let them know they support the
institution’s work.
The aquarium’s website also has an e-mail
sign-up form to facilitate letters of support to go to elected
officials. A social media campaign with the hashtag -- #ISupportVanAqua
– is also promoted.
The aquarium is now building a $100 million
expansion with public and private dollars. But it's not clear if more
whales will be part of that future.
The Vancouver Park Board must
decide the fate of the whales and dolphins soon -- a bylaw regarding
their captivity must be renewed next year. The board has ordered staff
to provide a report on best practices by July.
In 1996, the Vancouver Aquarium became the first aquarium in the world to no longer capture whales and dolphins from the wild.
It ended its orca program in 2001.
The aquarium says it only keeps dolphins and whales that were:
- captured before 1996
- already being kept in a zoo or aquarium before 1996
- born in a zoo or aquarium
- rescued from the wild and rehabilitated, but deemed non-releasable by the government authorities
