Marineland says it has more than a dozen reasons why none of its remaining 30 belugas should be sent to a proposed whale sanctuary in Nova Scotia.
The shuttered Ontario theme park, which is trying to sell the whales to avoid bankruptcy, made headlines last week when Federal Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson denied Marineland’s request for a permit to ship Canada’s last captive whales to buyers at an aquarium in China.
Marineland responded by saying it doesn’t have the money to continue feeding the whales and asked for emergency funding from Ottawa, warning that it might otherwise have no choice but to euthanize the snow-white mammals.
Thompson has said she “would love to see the whales in a sanctuary,” but Marineland has argued that no such sanctuary is currently available for 30 belugas, including the Whale Sanctuary Project’s proposed coastal refuge near Wine Harbour, N.S.
The owners of the theme park in Niagara Falls, Ont., have released a report alleging the site in eastern Nova Scotia is too polluted and has seen no development since plans for its construction were unveiled in 2020.
“Marineland is of the view that serious environmental issues that remain unresolved, along with a total lack of proven financial viability, precludes any further consideration of the WSP as an appropriate site,” the report says.
“Based on the apparent lack of progress to date, it is not possible to estimate any date by which the WSP facility may be capable of receiving cetaceans.”
Charles Vinick, CEO of the Whale Sanctuary Project, said Tuesday that Marineland raised these same allegations in a detailed study released in 2021.
“We have completed all of the environmental analysis of the site — both on land and in the water — that are required by the government,” Vinick said in an interview, adding that a 40-hectare floating net enclosure could eventually hold eight to 10 belugas.
In response to Marineland’s complaint about waste left behind from gold mining in the area that ended in the 1930s, Vinick said a mitigation plan aimed at capping tailing dumps with gravel and concrete has already been approved, and water sampling has shown no contamination.
On another front, Marineland says WSP hasn’t done enough to deal with toxic arsenic found in the soil at the bottom of the bay where the underwater refuge will be built. Vinick said experts have told WSP that the arsenic remains locked in the soil and that it not be disturbed.
“There’s been some restrictions on certain shellfish fishing,” Vinick said. “[But] lobstering and other fishing goes on all the time in this area. And all of the catches have been inspected for years, and no issues have been found.”
As for the project’s finances, Vinick said his U.S.-based non-profit organization continues to raise funds from private donors, and the group has said it will not be seeking government funding for the $20-million project.
“We do not have all of the funds today,” Vinick said. “[But] we’re seeing tremendous outreach from the public, from other organizations and from people who want to help these specific animals.”
To be sure, the Whale Sanctuary Project will not be offering Marineland any money for the belugas, he said. “We don’t believe that the buying and selling of whales is something that should continue and we’re not in a position, either philosophically or financially, to consider that.”
Meanwhile, the project remains stalled because its is facing opposition from a small group of local landowners whose unanimous consent is required to allow the sanctuary to proceed. Until that happens, Nova Scotia’s natural resources minister, Tory Rushton, has said he will not grant the WSP a Crown lease for 81 hectares of land and water.
Emails obtained by The Canadian Press through freedom of information laws indicate that some landowners were worried about losing access to the water once nets are installed. Others complained about increased traffic because WSP had planned to build an education centre nearby, but Vinick’s team has since scrapped that idea.
And even if the reluctant landowners change their minds, the project will also require approval from Transport Canada under the Canadian Navigable Waters Act, as well as permits from the federal Fisheries Department for the transfer of the whales.
In January of this year, the French government rejected WSP’s bid to provide refuge to two killer whales residing at Marineland Antibes in the south of France. Under French law, the country’s last two captive, performing orcas — Wikie and Keijo — must be removed from France by the end of this year.
French officials said the Nova Scotia sanctuary wouldn’t be ready in time and they worried about ocean temperatures off the province’s East Coast.
According to figures compiled by The Canadian Press, 19 belugas, one killer whale and one dolphin have died at Marineland since late 2019, but the company has long defended its treatment of animals, saying the deaths were part of the natural cycle of life.
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