September 12, 2019

Jean-Michel Cousteau offered to the Russian authorities the help of his international team in transporting belugas from the Whale Jail to the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk to expedite their release.
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At present, after the release of 10 orcas and 12 belugas, commercial companies continue to keep in captivity in Srednyaya Bay 75 belugas illegally caught in 2018.

Considering that the release of each group of cetaceans took three weeks in the past, and each group can have no more than 12 belugas, the release of the remaining prisoners of the Whale Jail will take at least 6 months, despite the fact that in November navigation on Amur river will close. That means it will not be possible to release all 75 belugas this year (and even half of them).
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The Free Russian Whales coalition believes that in this situation the Russian authorities are obliged to take the most urgent and comprehensive measures to drastically accelerate the process of releasing beluga whales to freedom. And for this, officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Agency for Fishery and VNIRO need to accept the help of the Cousteau team professionals and turn to the Minister of Defense of Russia Sergey Shoigu with a request to assist in the transportation and release of belugas.