Hong Kong rare whales plan riles activists

Montreal Gazette: Hong Kong rare whales plan riles activists

HONG KONG (AFP) – Beluga whales are majestic, sociable creatures that live in small pods mostly in the icy waters around the Arctic circle.

They chat loudly with each other in elaborate clicks, clangs and whistles, have a big seemingly friendly smile and are, for a whale, relatively small -- meaning they can be easily kept in a large tank.

And that's exactly what's planned for up to a dozen of the rare mammals at a new attraction at an aquarium in Hong Kong.

"We want to use these iconic animals to deliver a message of conservation and education to our guests," Tom Mehrmann, chief executive of Ocean Park, told AFP.

"And we want to make sure that the pod is large enough for proper social dynamics to take place."

But outraged conservationists say the park's plans have highlighted the issue of aquariums "robbing the world's oceans" of already threatened species just to have a gimmick to sell to the paying public.

Ocean Park says it will try to source already captive belugas from other aquariums around the world but, if they can't find a pod that way, they admit they will look at getting them from the wild.

Yet the beluga, or white whale, is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) "red list" of near endangered species and the US and Canada have effectively banned their capture and export from their waters.

Not so with the other big Arctic power.

"Capture of wild belugas still occurs in Russia, so that would be the likely source for this aquarium," says Brendan Cummings, a lawyer at the US Center for Biological Biodiversity that campaigns for Arctic environmental issues.

"Whales and dolphins have regularly been injured or killed in the act of capturing them, usually with nets. They panic, mothers may get separated from their young, and some may drown.

"So the capture of the animal often results in harm not just to the animal brought into captivity but also other animals in its group.

"Moreover, once in captivity, mortality is often quite high -- belugas have died in even the most modern facilities.

"Given these ice-associated animals will likely decline as global warming transforms the Arctic, we really should not be removing any of them from the wild, even from the healthier populations."

Ocean Park, which is a not for profit organisation owned by the Hong Kong government, has ambitious plans for the aquarium -- largely driven by the increasing number of tourists from mainland China.

The aquarium is making major additions. As well as the new Polar Adventure attraction, which is scheduled to open next year and will be home to the belugas, the park is also opening a new zone in May called The Rainforest.

Over five million people visited the aquarium last year, around 60 percent from mainland China. The park wants to increase the numbers through the gate to eight million by 2017.

"China is helping drive demand for rare marine mammals for aquariums," Dr Samuel Hung, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, told AFP.

"There are at least 17 mainland aquariums with over 60 beluga whales imported -- so far.

"People do not need to gawp at these beautiful creatures going round and round in a big fish tank to know they're endangered. Robbing the world's oceans of rare species just reduces their numbers further. It makes no sense.

"Russian waters have never been studied sufficiently to really understand beluga numbers. And they don't breed well in captivity, so the chances of Ocean Park getting a pod from another aquarium are very, very slim."

The aquarium was also in hot water recently with local conservationists after it brought dozens of rare Pacific blue fin tuna to the park, around ten of which died on the way from Japan.

It was also criticised for opening an exclusive restaurant with a seafood menu beside a huge glass tank full of 4,000 sea creatures from 400 species -- some of them extremely rare.

"None of the fish in the tank are on the menu," Mehrmann told AFP over the sound of clinking knives and forks of diners as the school of tuna swam behind his head.

"Most of our guests are from big cities and they would never otherwise get the chance to get so close to these animals. We can create a bond between people and the ocean. It's the greatest connection to nature they can possibly get."

Ocean Park insists it has a strict animal acquisition policy which complies with all international regulations and any animals taken from the wild are from sustainable sources.

The park also plans an Asian research institute to study belugas, says Mehrmann, adding that it donates around $1.6 million a year to conservation projects. He admits Russia is "an option" for finding a pod of whales.

"We want to put the spotlight on these animals -- we may have a different approach but we actually have the same objective as campaigners," he said.

"But some people are simply philosophically opposed to aquariums, and always will be. We'll have to agree to disagree on that."

The status of the whole beluga species is cause for concern, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), as they are threatened across their Arctic range by oil and gas development, over-hunting, vessel traffic, pollution and climate change.

"We are particularly concerned about the proposed import of belugas to Ocean Park," Cathy Williamson, the WDCS' captivity programme manager, told AFP.

"I guess aquariums, as money-making businesses, aim to have something unique that other similar facilities don't have, in order to attract crowds.

"But this only works in conservation terms if the species breeds well in captivity and they are releasing animals back into the wild, something that almost never happens with animals like belugas."