Kidnapped Whales And Conundrums

This is gonna be a long one, guys.

Recently, the Georgia Aquarium applied for a permit to import 18 wild-caught beluga whales from Russia to their facility. The permit was denied by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) on the grounds that the Georgia Aquarium failed to show that the capture of these whales would "not have an adverse effect on the species or stock," that the permit would not result in the taking of the marine mammals "beyond those authorized by permit," and that none of the whales were of an age that they were still dependent on their mother. The Georgia Aquarium is currently going to court to contest NOAA's denial of their request.

During the public comment period, there was a huge public outcry from animal rights groups, urging NOAA to deny the permit. The reasons were varied, but most fell into three categories:
1. Concern for the physical welfare of the animals involved.
2. Concern for the mental welfare of the animals involved.
3. Concern for the population of whales as a whole.
4. Moral problems with keeping whales in captivity.

NOAA itself expressed and acted on concern for the population as a whole. So instead, I will examine the other three points.

The Georgia Aquarium responded with a lengthy rebuttal to nearly all the comments, or at least all of the arguments presented in the comments. Their counterpoints are worthy of some analysis.
To the first concern: The Georgia Aquarium, unlike Sea World and other marine parks, has an excellent record of marine mammal care in regards to physical health. While there have been two deaths of adult whales at the aquarium, these were both animals with compromised health. Furthermore, belugas, unlike killer whales, seem to be fairly physically resilient to captivity. While there are, of course, still health concerns, these are not the greatest issues.

The second concern is more serious. The mental health of the animals is maybe the greatest concern in marine parks and aquariums. Evidence is stacking up that, at least for killer whales, captivity causes stress to the point of possible psychosis. This stems from the psychological trauma of capture and subsequent confined spaces where they lack the strong social group that they would experience in the wild. The Georgia Aquarium correctly asserts that belugas, unlike orcas, live in fluid social groups, rather than tight family units. However, they incorrectly assume that this naturally fluid social structure therefore means that social groups forced upon them by captivity are perfectly sufficient substitutes. We understand very little about what principles underlie the formation of beluga pods. Just because they are not static does not mean that they are arbitrarily constructed. Furthermore, while space is undoubtedly less of an issue for belugas than for orcas, it is still an issue that must be considered, and is never fully addressed by the aquarium. Belugas are slower and smaller than orcas, but they still travel in the wild.

There is also the fact that whales and dolphins exhibit neurotic, repetitive behavior in captivity, which is evidence of mental problems and stress. The Georgia Aquarium claims that this is no longer an issue in aquariums, but cites no evidence to support this claim. From personal experience with marine parks and aquariums, I can say that I have observed beluga whales neurotically swimming in the same path repeatedly for long durations in both the Shedd Aquarium and Sea World Orlando.

We must also consider the trauma of the capture itself. While supposedly not physically harmful, we can't discount the possible psychological trauma of the capture.

These pictures are from the permit request from the Georgia Aquarium, and depict the actual capture of the belugas. While I see no sign of lasting physical trauma, the act of immobilizing and man-handling an animal for a prolonged duration of time is potentially quite traumatizing to an animal with the emotional and memory capacities of whales. While its true that the aquarium itself did not capture the whales, by purchasing the whales from the Russian entity that did they would be implicitly condoning their actions, and by issuing the permit the government would as well.

Then there's the issue of the moral problems with keeping whales and dolphins in captivity. Keep in mind that this permit would not only have brought 18 more whales into captivity in the United States, but was also for the expressed purpose of increasing the breeding population in captivity, therefore prolonging the existence of a captive population of beluga whales. It is true that the Georgia Aquarium is not a for-profit organization, and has also been involved with a great deal of research into marine mammals. Unlike with Sea World, I do not necessarily see Georgia Aquarium's treatment of whales and dolphins as pure exploitation. They argue for the necessity of research and education in captivity, and seem sincere. I have doubts about the impact that captive education has on people, especially compared to field education, as well as doubts about the validity of studies done on possibly traumatized captive animals, but I do not see any attempt to mislead us in these claims. I do, however, see a distinct lack of regard for the intelligence, self-awareness, and emotional capabilities of these whales. While the emotional capabilities of belugas are not as well studied as those of orcas, the presence of spindle cells and a part of the brain responsible for empathy would imply some emotional depth to their existence. I see no reason why belugas should not be given some degree of the same moral consideration that I have argued we give to orcas in previous posts, making it morally unacceptable to keep them against their will in an unnatural environment.

Even if we limit our moral protection to the highest functioning species of marine mammal (which I'm not suggesting we do), this exchange is still unacceptable. The reason is a little snippet of information in the original Russian permit for the capture of these whales.

The same capture permit that allowed the taking of 25 beluga whales also allowed the capture of two killer whales, animals that I have and will continue to argue should be given the same moral standing as human beings, given their extreme degree of intellectual, social, and emotional development. As I have stated previously, to buy animals from this entity is to condone its actions, and for the government to allow that purchase when they could have prevented it is tantamount to the same.

I don't think the Georgia Aquarium is a fundamentally bad organization. I believe they genuinely think that having whales in captivity is necessary for education and research that will help the whales long term. I simply disagree with the notion that the possible benefit to the species over time will balance out with the moral cost of keeping whales in captivity, where they are potentially put in a mentally unhealthy situation. I am also generally repulsed by the taking of cetaceans from the wild.

I also recognize that the government's legal reasons for denying the permit are different from the reasons I give for why the whales should not be imported.

The tank that the captured belugas are currently being housed in.

However there is still a difficult question here: What happens to the belugas if they are not sold to the Georgia Aquarium? They are currently held in a tank that is much too small to be humane, and all evidence points to this in no way being a permanent condition. Some fear that they will (or already have been) sold to marine parks in China. Surely they would be better off at Georgia Aquarium than in China. But at the same time we must consider the ultimate moral goal, which is the elimination of captive programs for cetaceans, a goal which their import would set back. So what do you do when there is a valid argument to be made either way? There are no perfect solutions. A petition is currently underway to try to get the whales released as soon as possible, but only time will tell if it can be effective. In a perfect world, the Georgia Aquarium would have bought the whales with the expressed purpose of rehabilitation and release. However, in the world we live in, we're left with this:

18 kidnapped whales and no easy answers.