Legislator says whale bill not designed to stop research
Mystic — A Stamford state representative said Wednesday it is not his bill's intention to stop Mystic Aquarium from doing research, but to stop it from breeding whales and acquiring new ones.
David Michel acknowledged that the legislation he introduced, Raised Bill 5341: “An act prohibiting the sale and breeding of certain cetaceans,” eventually would mean the aquarium would not have any belugas in its collection after its current three whales die and it's not allowed to bring new ones into the state.
“I'm entirely against having marine mammals in captivity,” he said. “They swim hundreds of miles a week or more in the wild and it's a sad sight to see cetaceans in captivity at all.”
“Breeding marine mammals in captivity is just something I can't be in agreement with,” added Michel, the House Democratic chairman of the Legislators for Animals Advocacy
Caucus. He is also a member of Sea Shepherd, a marine conservation organization that may be best known for its altercations with fishermen hunting whales, seals and other marine animals.
Michel said that some scientists think whales are more intelligent than humans, considering their relative brain size.
“So why are we putting them in a bathtub for the rest of their lives?” he said.
In a letter to Mike Demicco, the House chairman of the Environment Committee, Michel wrote that his bill “grandfathers in currently captive cetaceans for performance or research, but NOT for breeding. So the current animals are the last animals the state will ever have.”
Michel said that if the aquarium wants to study belugas, it should do so in the wild — something aquarium scientists already do in Canada each year.
Aquarium President and CEO Stephen Coan said this week that the bill would end the aquarium’s research into protecting belugas and other whales in the wild, as it would not be able to add animals to its collection.
He said the aquarium’s 35 years of beluga research investigating the effects of stressors, such as climate change and pollution, on the decline in wild beluga pregnancy and successful gestation rates requires a control group of whales in captivity. One of its other efforts is looking into how sound, such as that from offshore wind farm construction, affects marine mammals.
The legislature’s Environment Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Michel’s bill at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the Legislative Office Building.
One issue that could be raised at the hearing is the apparent confusing language of the bill. While it does not explicitly ban the importation of cetaceans into Connecticut, it bans their transfer from Connecticut to another state or country. And while it does prohibit cetaceans from being held in captivity for any reason, it carves out an exception for whales involved in research but then states they must be released when possible.
If approved by the legislature this spring and signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, the bill would take effect Oct. 1.
Aquarium officials and a large group of supporters are expected to testify in opposition to the bill on Friday.
The bill comes as the aquarium awaits a decision from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association on the federal importation permit it needs to transfer five belugas from Marineland of Canada to Mystic.
Michel said a loophole in the federal law that bans institutions from buying cetaceans does allow accredited zoos and aquariums, such as the one in Mystic, to exchange and transfer animals. Michel said his bill has the support of some members of the Environment Committee.
He said he is not trying to hurt the aquarium’s business but “change the way they practice their business.”
Coan said the bill “is inconsistent with federal laws, which are among the most stringent in the world in protecting marine mammals, assuring their right to breed, and the movement of animals under human care for their care and well-being.”