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WHALES AHOY
Russia releases first whales held in 'jail'
By Maria ANTONOVA
Moscow (AFP) June 27, 2019

Six dead endangered right whales found in Canadian waters
Ottawa (AFP) June 27, 2019 - Six critically endangered North Atlantic right whales have been found dead in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence this month, Canadian officials said Thursday.

As a result, Transport Canada has expanded a shipping speed limit of 10 knots in the Gulf and closed 16,000 square kilometers (6,200 square miles) to commercial fishing.

The animal carcasses were spotted drifting in the channel and tagged with satellite tracking devices, and on Thursday afternoon Fisheries and Oceans Canada said a plane had spotted another carcass adrift off a peninsula not far from the gulf.

Two of the bodies were towed to nearby beaches where necropsies were performed. A 40-year-old female, which was known to marine biologists and had been named Punctuation, was found to have likely died in a collision with a ship.

Official ssaid they weren't able to establish a cause of death for the second whale, a nine-year-old male named Wolverine.

More autopsies are planned or being considered for the remaining whales.

This month's right whale deaths, as well as seven recent calf births, brings the total population estimate to 412.

The Canadian government stepped up local tracking of right whales -- using aerial and marine surveillance, as well as ocean acoustic monitoring -- after more than a dozen were found dead in 2017 in the busy seaway and off the coast of New England in the United States.

No deaths were reported in 2018.

Conservation officials say that North Atlantic right whales are among the most threatened species in the world.

About a third of them visit Canadian waters to feed each summer, with the number of visits increasing and the whales' range in the Gulf expanding in recent years, amid changing oceans.

A number of whales and orcas captured to perform in aquariums and held in cramped pens have been released into the wild, but experts warned the mammals may not survive after being held in captivity for months.

The release of six beluga and two killer whales into the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia's far east came after a huge international outcry over the holding in captivity of nearly 100 of the marine mammals.

However, scientists and activists criticised the move, saying it was not transparent and did not follow a previously agreed roadmap. They also warned the orcas may not survive in the wild.

It is also unclear what authorities plan to do with the remaining animals, still held near the far eastern town of Nakhodka.

"The release took place in favourable weather conditions," said the All-Russian Fisheries and Oceanography Institute (VNIRO), which led the operation.

The marine mammals were in a good shape, it said in a statement.

"The orcas were predictably jittery, they spent several hours near the shore and then entered the Gulf of Sakhalin's open waters," the institute said.

They have been tagged to monitor their whereabouts, it said.

The juvenile animals have been held in cramped enclosures since last summer by commercial companies that planned to deliver them to aquariums, including in China where the industry is booming.

Animal welfare groups, scientists and celebrities had expressed horror at their fate and repeatedly called for their release.

Russia is the only country capturing wild orcas and belugas and selling them to aquariums, a controversial practice that has continued due to legal loopholes.

The controversy came to a head when images of what the media have nicknamed the "whale jail" were published this year.

Marine mammal experts have advised a process of pre-release rehabilitation for the animals following the prolonged period of human contact, a difficult winter and health problems of a number of the orcas.

- 'Few chances of survival' -

During his annual phone-in with ordinary Russians last week, President Vladimir Putin said he was in favour of the whales' release.

"Thank God things have started moving," he said.

But Russian killer whale experts, apparently uninvolved in the release, said the chances of survival were fairly slim.

"The experts have recommended that all orcas are released together after rehabilitation. However, VNIRO released only two of them without any rehabilitation," said a statement posted on Russian Orcas Facebook group run by researchers.

"We hope for the best for them, but the way they were released leaves them with few chances of survival," it said.

Orca expert Tatiana Ivkovich said there were no known marine mammal scientists involved in the release which saw the animals transported in trucks for nearly a week.

"How will we know what happened to the two orcas?" she asked. "Who is in those trucks?"

Greenpeace Russia criticised the "secretive atmosphere" of the operation and complained that no media were allowed to observe or count the animals during transport.

The four companies keeping the animals were given hefty fines by a Russian court this month for violating fishing regulations.

Environmentalists have raised concerns that the same companies have apparently been paid to organise the release, after Russian media published details of the contracts.

The Russian navy previously said it would help transport the animals for free.

French marine expert Jean-Michel Cousteau, who visited the country earlier this year to agree a plan for the whales with officials and scientists, on Wednesday called on Russia to work with global specialists on the release, which is unprecedented in its scope.

"This operation is so complicated and so important that Russia must have the best specialists," he said. "I am hearing concerns from the public about the lack of transparency that we have seen so far."

VNIRO said it had taken six days to transport the animals to the release site some 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) away from the enclosure.

The institute said the mammals were continuously monitored and that "not a single animal was harmed during the journey."


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WHALES AHOY
Putin oversees release of whales from 'jail' during phone-in
Moscow (AFP) June 20, 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin during his annual marathon phone-in on Thursday claimed kudos for the release of whales held in cramped pens and intended for commercial aquariums. The release of eight beluga and killer whales comes after a huge international outcry over the holding in captivity of nearly 100 of the marine mammals. The move will be seen by some as a publicity stunt to boost the president's popularity amid falling approval ratings. The whales have been held in enclosures in f ... read more

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