Two Captive Belugas Will Go to a Sea Sanctuary

Little Grey and Little White are twelve-year-old beluga whales living in an aquarium in China. In the spring of 2019, if all goes according to plan, they will be transported to Iceland to live in a sanctuary. The plan may sound wonderful to people opposed to keeping belugas in captivity. There are some concerns associated with it, however. The transfer will be a major undertaking that will likely involve a considerable amount of stress for the animals. The belulgas' new home should be much better than their old one, but it will have some limitations. It will also present some new environmental challenges for the animals.

The head of a beluga whale
Steve Snodgrass, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Beluga Whales

Belugas live in the Arctic and the Subarctic. Unlike most whales, some belugas enter rivers. They are white as adults and have no dorsal fins. They have a large, fatty melon in the front of their head, which plays an important role in echolocation. During this process, the whales produce sounds that are focused by the melon and sent into the environment. The melon changes shape during this activity. The sound waves bounce off objects and return to the whales, giving them detailed information about their surroundings. Another interesting feature of the beluga is the fact that its neck vertebrae aren't fused, giving it the ability to turn and nod its head.

Belugas are social animals and feed on both fish and invertebrates. They are sometimes known as sea canaries because they're so vocal. The animals emit chirps, squeals, grunts, whistles, and other sounds. They generally live from forty to sixty years.

A Sanctuary With a Sea Pen

Since Little Grey and Little White's new home is being referred to as an "open-sea sanctuary",  some people seem to think that the belugas are being set free. This isn't the case,  however. The whales will be placed in a sea pen in an ocean inlet. The pen will have an area of 32,000 square metres and a depth of 10 metres (which doesn't sound very deep to me). This is certainly larger than the whales's current tank, but the pen is still an enclosure. It will be exposed to the cold water and tides in the area by netting of some kind, which explains the "open water" designation. The facility will have a visitor centre and a care center for the whales. The organizers say that the belugas can't be released into the wild because they depend on humans for their care.

A captive beluga
Carquinyol, via Wikiimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Ocean World and Iceland

The whales currently live in Shanghai in the Changfeng Ocean World aquarium. The facility is owned by Merlin Entertainment. The move is being arranged by an organization called Sea Life Trust in cooperation with Merlin. The original plan was to transport three belugas to Iceland. Since then, one of the whales (Jun Jun) has died. The sea pen will be located at Klettsvik Bay in the Westman Islands off the coast of Iceland. This area was also the location for the Free Willy movie. The pen is currently being created and should be ready by March of next year.

Training

The belugas are undergoing "training" for life in their new home. Their enclosure will be longer, wider, and deeper than their current one. Trainers are trying to build up the animals' strength so that they can deal with currents and tides and can dive in their new habitat. They are giving them more calories to eat in order to build up blubber to protect them from the cold. The whales are also being introduced to the stretchers that will carry them during transport.

The Journey

The journey to Iceland will take thirty-five hours and cover 8,000 kilometres. The whales will be accompanied by veterinarians and other experts. At the end of their trip they'll find a larger and more natural home. If the trip is successful, it may encourage other facilities to release their whales and dolphins into sea pens. While a pen is not as good as freedom, it could be much better than an aquarium tank.

Will the Effort Be Worthwhile?

I think it's wonderful that the whales will no longer have to perform and will have a larger swimming area. The trip to Iceland will likely be stressful, though. I hope the size of the pen and the new environment will make the effort and stress worthwhile and that the belugas are much happer in their new home.

References

World's first sanctuary for belugas from New Scientist

A beluga sanctuary in Iceland from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Whales in training from the Iceland Review