Australia sets an example for the rest of us

Awesome things may be happening in Australia.  

When you stake out solid moral ground, then fight your battles persistently and consistently, eventually good things will happen.  I believe we’re seeing the fruits of this now thanks to the efforts of our friends down under.  When it comes to ending the nightmare of cetacean captivity, they’ve managed to bring their nation to a much better place indeed.

On the north coast of New South Wales sits the town of Coffs Harbour.  There, two sides who’ve long been at odds, often bitterly so, have come together to propose something entirely new.  With these former adversaries keeping the best interests of the country’s last remaining captive dolphins firmly in mind, a proposal has been put forward for the creation of a semi-open sea sanctuary.  The dolphins would be transferred there from the sad concrete pools they inhabit now, and would get to live out their lives in a sectioned-off area of the marina.  This would give them considerably more space than their artificial environment currently provides, and visitors would be able to see them in the marina.

As next steps, the partners to this proposal are finalizing the feasibility study into building the sanctuary, and they continue to lobby for government support for the project.  The breakwalls, nets and other features that will have to be built are expected to cost another $9M to $10M, but all parties are committed to moving ahead.  There are also encouraging signs that government is on board.  The park generates more than that amount every year for the local economy, and it’s believed that a sea sanctuary like the one under consideration has great potential to provide jobs and boost tourism for the city.  And, of course, a much better life for the dolphins themselves.

A number of things about this are very interesting.

Firstly, this represents the best possible solution.  Zippy, Bella, and Jet, the dolphins affected by this plan, were all raised solely in captivity, so a return to the wild would not be practical or even possible.  When swimming free in the ocean isn’t an option, a sea sanctuary is the next best alternative.  

Secondly – and this is likely unprecedented – the principals in this endeavor are Action for Dolphins (AFD) and World Animal Protection (two animal advocate groups we’ve often written about and strongly endorse) and the marine park, now known as Dolphin Marine Conservation Park.  It’s been what AFD’s advocacy director Jordan Sosnowski called “a very unique collaboration”.  This is quite remarkable given their respective positions on captivity in the past.  Ultimately, this “complete and utter turnaround” between two sides that still don’t agree on a great many things was agreement that the wellbeing of the dolphins must come first!  This is extraordinary, and I hope that places elsewhere will be able to arrive at a similar consensus when the time comes.

Thirdly, this is in stark contrast to what is happening here in Canada.  It’s the Aussie example that we hope will be followed in other countries as they go through the arduous process of freeing their whales and dolphins from captivity – certainly not the Canadian one.  But more on that later.  Some background…

The marine park was once Coffs Harbour’s leading tourist attraction.  At that time it went by the name Dolphin Marine Magic.  But times change, in large part due to the efforts of groups like those above, and public attitudes evolved.  Following AFD’s presentation of evidence to a parliamentary inquiry in 2020, the government of New South Wales banned dolphin breeding in the state last year.  Then, with all this going on, COVID-19’s forced closures hit the industry hard.  The time had come to consider adopting a new business model.

Last February, the park announced a change in direction, and a new name, with the emphasis to now be on marine conservation.  I applaud this move, as it looks to me to be genuine.  Marine parks sometimes rebrand themselves to try to create the illusion that they’re now about conservation, research and education, whereas in truth they’re still in the entertainment business.   That requires that the dolphins somehow be compelled to perform.  In short, the exploitation goes on, and the dolphins continue to suffer.  Happily, it seems that in this case, Dolphin Marine Conservation Park has backed up its words with admirable action. 

Given that, I’m hopeful that this project at Coffs Harbour will set a new and much higher standard for how dolphins are treated when captivity finally ends and it’s time to adopt a new business model to keep up with the changing times.  

If successful in Australia, what I would hope is that we be able to effectively replicate the process in many other places.  Granted that Australia has a better situation than most, with less than a handful of captive dolphins left in the entire country, so pulling off this solution in one stroke is more easily attainable.  Other countries, including Canada, would need many, many more such facilities.  

Note also that at this point captivity is not even technically illegal in all of Australia.  Yet that nation is already down to a very small number of remaining captives, with genuine efforts underway to provide them sanctuary.  In Canada, we took the momentous step of banning captivity in 2019, but because Marineland Canada’s cetaceans were ‘grandfathered’ under the legislation, those approximately 50 belugas, bottlenose dolphins (and one lone orca) have continued to languish in their concrete prisons at Niagara Falls.  Many have already died since then.  Unless there’s a change of heart, they will continue their servitude until Marineland is done profiting from exploiting them.

Good on the Australians, and definitely not a good look for us here in Canada.

It is commendable that Dolphin Marine Conservation Park has taken this approach.  We are hopeful that other marine parks and aquariums will adopt a similar degree of compassion and common sense.  When the wellbeing of these fellow sentient creatures is what we agree should be our primary motivation, solutions based on the Australian model will be essential.  To quote AFD’s Sosnowski once more, “A sea sanctuary is a humane compromise which will allow the animals to live in the ocean and have a lot more autonomy, whilst still ensuring they are looked after and fed by caregivers”.  

It will often be the case that those released from captivity will not be able to return to the wild, as a large proportion of the world’s 3,600 cetaceans currently held were either born there, or have been captive for many years.  We’ll need to get very good at building sanctuaries, and it’s a great thing indeed that people are learning how to do that – Coffs Harbour in Australia, the Whale Sanctuary Project in Port Hilford, Canada, and the WDC/Sea Life Trust beluga sanctuary in Iceland, to name a few examples.  And when we become truly committed to doing the right thing, we’ll know not to deprive them of their liberty by taking them captive in the first place.

For The Orca’s Voice, 

Jason, Canadian Cetacean Alliance