Explore our whitepapers highlighting the urgent need to end cetacean captivity in Europe. Backed by research and expert analysis, these documents provide key insights into the ethical, scientific, and legal arguments for a dolphinaria-free future.
DFE POLICY BRIEF
Never has there been more need for ending the breeding and trade of captive dolphins and whales. The Dolphinaria-Free Europe policy brief “Safe and Thriving Whales and Dolphins in the European Union – a How-To Guide” outlines the coalition’s legislative proposals to the European Union for ensuring the wellbeing of all captive whales and dolphins in the EU. The coalition also addresses conditions in which cetaceans are currently held throughout Europe. DFE believes it’s vital that the EU embark upon a plan to phase out dolphinaria, and that the current population of captive cetaceans should be the last generation in the EU.Never has there been more need for ending the breeding and trade of captive dolphins and whales.
The Dolphinaria-Free Europe policy brief “Safe and Thriving Whales and Dolphins in the European Union – a How-To Guide” outlines the coalition’s legislative proposals to the European Union for ensuring the wellbeing of all captive whales and dolphins in the EU. The coalition also addresses conditions in which cetaceans are currently held throughout Europe. DFE believes it’s vital that the EU embark upon a plan to phase out dolphinaria, and that the current population of captive cetaceans should be the last generation in the EU.
SEASIDE SANCTUARIES: GENERAL CRITERIA FOR SITES AND OPERATIONS
The display of captive cetaceans to the public is undergoing an evolution. The public’s image of aquarium and theme park dolphins and whales has changed, from happy circus clowns in the 1950s and 1960s, to serious environmental ambassadors in the 1980s and 1990s, to miserable intelligent beings in the 2010s and 2020s. There has been some public protest since the modern display of captive cetaceans began in 1937 in Florida in the United States, but starting in 1993, with the release of the feature film Free Willy, public perception of dolphinaria has shifted to a majority opposing them (e.g. Naylor & Parsons 2018).1
The release of the documentary films The Cove in 2009 and Blackfish in 2013 accelerated this shift, with the public increasingly viewing the practice of keeping cetaceans captive in a negative light. Orcas in particular are now seen as profoundly suffering in captivity (Marino et al. 2020), which is reflected in the change in policies at aquariums and theme parks displaying this species (e.g. Parsons & Rose 2018; Boissat et al. 2021).
THE SEAWORTHINESS OF NOAH’S ARK: EX SITU CONSERVATION CANNOT SAVE ENDANGERED CETACEANS
In 2018 a workshop was held at a German zoo to discuss ex situ options for cetacean conservation. This led to the creation of the Integrated Conservation Planning for Cetaceans (ICPC), a subgroup of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). The ICPC proposes to integrate ex situ measures with in situ efforts in small cetacean conservation plans, including holding individual animals in semi-natural reserves and artificial enclosures and breeding them in captivity.
Although it is of course vital to protect wild cetaceans from threats such as habitat loss and fishing gear entanglement, Dolphinaria-Free Europe (DFE) has profound concerns with the idea of pursuing ex situ (captive) breeding of small cetaceans as a conservation measure for endangered species.
EU ZOO ENQUIRY
Cetaceans, are kept in 32 dolphinaria in 15 EU Member States. The majority of the reported 309 captive cetaceans in the EU are bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus and Tursiops truncatus ponticus) but the captive population also consists of orcas (Orcinus orca), belugas (Delphinapterus leucas), harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and an Amazon River dolphin (Inia geoffrensis ).
The majority of these animals are kept for display and performance, in purpose-built tanks and some facilities offer ‘swim-with’ opportunities, Dolphin Assisted Therapy and souvenir photographs with the animals.
As of 2011, all EU Member States but one regulate dolphinaria under the EC Directive 1999/22, relating to the keeping of wild animals in zoos. This provides a framework for Member State legislation that is implemented
through the licensing and inspection of zoos and which aims to strengthen the role of zoos in the conservation of biodiversity.
Data was collected from 18 dolphinaria and reviewed together with scientific literature, web-based resources and publically-available information from the 34 dolphinaria that were operating the EU in 2011.