The transportation of the remaining belugas that are still kept in Russia's so-called whale prison to the site of their release will start on September 28, head of Sakhalin Environment Watch Dmitry Lisitsyn told Sputnik on Friday
VLADIVOSTOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th September, 2019) The transportation of the remaining belugas that are still kept in Russia's so-called whale prison to the site of their release will start on September 28, head of Sakhalin Environment Watch Dmitry Lisitsyn told Sputnik on Friday.
The first batch of the trapped mammals was released on June 27, and after several more animals were released subsequently, 75 beluga whales currently remain in the so-called whale prison in Russia's Far East, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment. While their transfer was planned to start on September 12, it was then postponed over flood rise.
"The Russian Federal Research Institute Of Fisheries and Oceanography [VNIRO] will start the release of the next portion of belugas on September 28, 2019. Fourteen animals will be released, and the VNIRO will pay to four catcher companies 38.5 million rubles [$589,290] for them," Lisitsyn said.
The mammals will be delivered to the site of their release in Russia's Khabarovsk region in a research vessel.
The VNIRO will then conduct research work on belugas behavior and migration.
The so-called whale jail in Srednyaya Bay made headlines in fall 2018 after Greenpeace reported that the company that captured the rare whales was preparing to sell 13 orcas � which are on the Red List of Threatened Species � to China, while 15 orcas had already been sold to China. A probe was then launched into the illegal fishing of aquatic animals and animal abuse.
