EIA Response to Proposed Designation of Sakhalin Bay Beluga Population as Depleted

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposed to designate the Sakhalin Bay-Nikolaya Bay-Amur River population of beluga whales as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) welcomes the proposed designation which will prohibit any imports of belugas from this population into the United States.

The population of belugas, which inhabit the southern region of the Sea of Okhotsk within the Russian Federation, were decimated by historic commercial hunting. Although hunting has ceased, these belugas continue to be captured alive at an unsustainable rate for display in aquaria. A depleted designation will acknowledge that the population is a fraction of its historical abundance.

“We are pleased that NMFS is taking a precautionary approach that recognizes the fragility of the Sakhalin beluga population and the threats posed by the aquarium trade,” said Danielle Grabiel, Senior Policy Analyst for EIA. “We hope this is the beginning of the end of the unsustainable capture of belugas in the Sea of Okhotsk.”

The proposed designation was issued in response to a petition by The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Cetacean Society International (CSI), Earth Island Institute (EII), and Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), and comes less than a year after NMFS denied an application by Georgia Aquarium and to import 18 live beluga whales that had been taken from this population. NMFS’ decision was upheld in September 2015 by a U.S. District Court.