May 31, 2019. Today, the South-Sakhalin City Court announced the resolution of the decision on the claim of public organizations “Sakhalin Environmental Watch”, “Boomerang Club”, “Ocean Friends” and citizens in defense of orcas and beluga whales.
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Claims of plaintiffs against Federal Fisheries Agency were fulfilled entirely- all decisions of this government agency on granting quotas for capture of orcas and beluga whales by Afalina LLC, White Whale LLC, Oceanarium DV LLC and Sochi Dolphinarium LLC were recognized as illegal.
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In terms of the requirements for the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor), obliging it to confiscate animals and make a decision on the release into the wild habitat, the court refused to fulfill the requirements. However, the reasons for this refusal will become known only on June 5, when the court will provide a motivating decision justifying its decision. It is possible that the grounds for refusal will be formal. At the same time, it is important to note that the court does not decide whether animals can be released or not. The court only establishes whether Rosprirodnadzor has the powers and the grounds for making such decisions.
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“In general, we are satisfied with the court’s decision,” said Natalia Lisitsyna, a lawyer for “Sakhalin Environmental Watch”, a representative of all the plaintiffs in the case, “in fact, it means that orcas and beluga whales were caught illegally and there are no grounds for keeping them in Srednyaya Bay. We will challenge in the appeal denial of our requirements for Rosprirodnadzor. “
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“The court’s decision on the beluga is extremely important,” said Valentina Mezentseva, the head of the Boomerang Club, one of the plaintiffs in the case, “the court had previously made a decision confirming that the capture of orcas was illegal, but for beluga whales this took place only today”
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The Public Coalition “Free Russian Whales” will continue to fight for the release of cetaceans from the whale jail by all legal means.