Our public policies towards cetaceans are all over the place

Regardless of where we live, it’s likely that the governments that represent us hold policy positions towards cetaceans which are logically inconsistent.  Laws governing our relationships with whales and dolphins will either contradict one another, or be entirely contrary to the will of the majority of the public.  This can be frustrating to those of us advocating for better treatment of these kindred spirits.  It can be so difficult at times to understand why governments do what they do.  And it’s not like what’s at stake here is trivial.

We need to demand consistently better treatment of cetaceans from our lawmakers.

Examples of what I’m talking about are easy to find.  Let’s look at a few.

An IPSOS survey among Italians found that 96% would like to see an end to the practice of keeping dolphins in captivity.  You read that right – 96%.  Four-fifths of respondents also believe that dolphins are happier living in the wild.  Spokespersons for LAV and Marevivo, two animal protection NGOs in Italy, expressed in a joint statement that:

“In Italy, the dolphins in captivity provide no benefit to public education or species conservation, the key requirements of the Italian and European zoo law, instead they are forced to perform demeaning tricks to music and are housed in unnatural, cramped conditions to provide ‘entertainment’…” 

It seems that virtually all of the citizens of Italy agree that “[t]his exploitation of these highly intelligent animals must end.”  That survey was done in 2013.  Today, eight years later, Italy still has three aquariums – Acquario di Genova, Oltremare Riccione and Zoomarine Roma (pictured above), with at last count 24 captive dolphins among them.  Why is this so?

Research by World Animal Protection found that a single dolphin will bring in anywhere from $400 thousand to $2 million per year in revenue for a venue, depending on how frequently they’re forced to perform or to interact with the public.  So apparently decision makers in the Italian government believe that protecting this piece of their tourism industry is more valuable.  The wishes of 96% of Italians be damned.  So, where public leadership is lacking, private NGOs like LAV and Marevivo have had to assume it, having launched a campaign to end captivity in Italy.  

But it is strange, isn’t it, when you think about it?  How is it that this particular political lobby can wield this kind of influence?  Twenty-four dolphins means, at most, $48 million.  What’s that compared to the stated wishes of almost the whole of the population of the Italian peninsula, the people the government is supposed to represent?  What gives here?  

Let’s look at another.  Happily, the drive to eliminate cetacean captivity in Europe has gained significant momentum in recent years.  France is only the latest to be in the news, but others had previously moved ahead on this.  Bans on keeping dolphins in captivity are already in place in Luxembourg, Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus and Norway.  

Excuse me, Norway?  Fantastic that they’ve taken the all-important step of ending the enormous suffering that comes with captivity.  But Norway is among the last few whaling nations left on Earth!  Norwegian whalers are permitted to kill several hundred cetaceans every year under self-allocated quotas.  The current method employs harpoons that explode inside the bodies of their victims and can take up to 25 minutes to kill.  Norway’s lawmakers haven’t advanced beyond being OK with the killing of cetaceans, yet they’ve gotten around to banning captivity.  I’m very grateful for the latter part of that equation, but I certainly can’t follow the logic.  

One might be tempted to make the case that banning captivity is the greater priority because the suffering and cruelty it engenders is lifelong, and I personally agree that for a cetacean captivity is a fate worse than death.  But I highly doubt that the government of Norway sees it that way, or is motivated by similar reasoning.  

For animals used to swimming 60 to 100 miles per day in the wild, confinement in a volume of water 200 thousand times smaller than their natural habitat means the torment of extreme stress and boredom that will last for years.  But from the public’s perception it’s much harder to see that suffering.  Aquariums are in the entertainment business, and they go to a great deal of trouble to hide the truth.  It’s understandable that many patrons will come away with the impression of happy dolphins well taken care of.  With whaling, by contrast, the immense cruelty inflicted on a highly intelligent, sentient being could not be more obvious.  

So explain Norway’s policy positions to me, if you can.  I certainly don’t get it.

Now to France.  Recently, the French government passed legislation which bans the keeping of captive whales, dolphins and porpoises.  As was the case with Canada’s ban in 2019, an exception was granted for those already present in the country’s aquariums and marine parks.  However, these facilities will also be prohibited from breeding their captives, size requirements for the tanks were increased, and direct contact between the dolphins and the public will no longer be permitted.  So no more swim-with-the-dolphins programs in France.  All in all an extremely progressive, moral, and entirely welcome piece of legislation.

France is now among the leading nations in the fight to end captivity.  Yet that very same nation infamously turns a blind eye to the slaughter of more than ten thousand dolphins a year by its fishing industry!  It is widely known that this number suffocate to death after being entangled in fishing nets, but there is little passion among French politicians for any kind of meaningful containment of an out of control industry.   Environmental organizations have been dismayed by their failure to get France, Spain and the European Commission to act.     

Particular attention has been focused on the Bay of Biscay.  (That’s the area that lies along the western coast of France down to the Spanish border, and part of the northern coast of Spain).  Marine environmental groups assert that France and Spain are in breach of their legal duties and commitments to prevent bycatch made under the EU Biodiversity Strategy.   Both countries have refused to temporarily suspend fishing operations to prevent the spike in incidental captures, many involving legally protected species.  The pressure comes not only from these groups, but also from independent scientific advice highlighting the need for greater protections.  So these deaths are not only cruel and needless, they are environmentally dangerous and unsustainable.

So does the French government care about dolphins, or does it not?  So far, they’ve permitted the killing of more than ten times the number slaughtered every year by the dolphin hunters at Taiji.  The only distinction is that in Japan the dolphins are deliberately targeted.  In Europe the killing is ‘incidental’, but if you know it’s going to happen as a cost of doing business, is your complicity any less?  To the dolphins themselves it certainly makes little difference.  In the case of France, the most likely explanation for inaction is fear of fishing industry lobbyists.  That we can certainly understand, and here in Canada we’re not so different, given the enormous cruelty inflicted on animals in the name of powerful financial interests – be they farmers or sealers.  

But if we’re going to be honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge that the hypocrisy is egregious and inescapable, and it should be felt by every one of us when we sit down to dinner.   So perhaps, in the end, this is where we land.  If we’re to insist on our right to demand moral consistency from our legal representatives, we’re going to have to begin by demanding it of ourselves.

Let’s end with one last example.  Let’s say you’re a citizen of Denmark – like many we’ve talked about in this post, an awesome country with a really good recent track record in most things.  So, how do you feel about your countrymen and their notorious Grindadráp in the Faroe Islands?  And more specifically, when it comes to your government’s policies – how do you feel about elements of the Danish navy being sent, using Krones you pay in taxes, to support these hunts against peaceful protestors like Sea Shepherd?  I can’t believe that more than a tiny fraction of the Danish population supports the Grind, yet the naval ships are dispatched all the same!

For The Orca’s Voice, 

Chris, Canadian Cetacean Alliance

Text of the letter written by Actor Pamela Anderson to the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, December 2, 2020 – Thank you Pamela for applying your fame and influence to such an essential and valued purpose – from all of us here at CCA.

Dear Prime Minister Rasmussen,

Last year I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful and enchanting Faroe Islands. It is a place out of a fairy tale, with lovely green mountains and sparkling clean streams with crystal clear waterfalls, sometimes held in the ephemeral embrace of low-flowing clouds. The houses are inviting and the people are friendly.

But like many fairy tales, behind the beauty and the serenity there lurks a dark shadow that lies behind the smiles.

I am of course referring to the Grind.

Mr. Prime Minister, I cannot see any justification for this horrific slaughter, this infliction of such agonizing cruelty and the transformation of such beautiful, intelligent and sociable animals like pilot whales and dolphins.

There is no necessity for the meat of these gentle creatures. The Faroese are a wealthy community of islands. There can be no justification for the great nation of Denmark to send warships to these islands to defend the whale killers from non-violent opposition to the killing.

Eating the whale meat even puts the citizens themselves in danger and this is an egregious offense when such toxic food is fed to children who have not been given any choice of what they must consume.

As we evolve into the 21st Century, humanity must put away traditions based on cruelty and death. This Grind is archaic, barbaric and a disgrace not only to Denmark but to all of humanity.

I would like to respectfully request that Denmark refrain from providing support to the Faroese both in subsidies and with military assistance.

The killing of whales is illegal under the laws of the European Union and thus illegal under the laws of Denmark so the question must be asked, why is the Danish Navy, at a huge cost to Danish taxpayers, protecting the slaughter of whales in the Faroe Islands?

Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,

Pamela Anderson