Confined Waves: Whales and Public Awakening in China's Post-Pandemic Marine Parks

After nearly five years, Dr. Naomi Rose (Scientific Advisor to the China Cetacean Alliance) returned to China in January 2024. This time, she visited three facilities, in Zhuhai, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, representing the newest facility with the most captive orcas, the first facility to publicly exhibit orcas, and a facility over 15 years old, respectively.
CCA aimed to assess the 10 newly displayed orcas, among which were six captured in Russia, and observe any changes in the commercial model post-pandemic.
The orca breeding program is active in Zhuhai and Shanghai. While the enclosure complex in Zhuhai is the largest in the world, it is crowded with five adult and adolescent males, four juveniles (one of them already performing at four years of age), and one mother. Three other adults and one captive-born individual are reportedly at the off-side breeding center, but of course this could not be confirmed. This arrangement - three very young calves held with one female, at least one of which is not hers - suggests that at least one mother has rejected her offspring. The industry's lack of transparency keeps information about the death of calves and other animal health issues hidden from the public (we noticed fewer pinnipeds, including walruses, and other cetaceans in each facility compared to our visit in the summer of 2019). Meanwhile, existing marine parks have been intensifying their efforts to mask the harm of captivity on wild populations and individual captive animals by enhancing their narratives and public images, misleading the public.
However, we also noted visitorship was low at the three facilities. At Dr. Rose’s standing-room-only lectures in Shanghai and Hangzhou, many participants, both online and offline, engaged with insightful questions and accurate observations. In addition, more people are connecting and interacting with us via social media platforms like Weibo.
As Dr. Rose mentioned, genuinely helping marine mammals is a gradual, cumulative process. Please start by "thinking"-consider what kind of industries you want to support as a responsible consumer.
We are grateful to everyone who is concerned about the issues of cetacean capture and captivity; to everyone who refrains from visiting marine parks and watching animal performances; and to everyone willing to think, make efforts within their capacity to protect habitats and wild populations, and speak out for captive individuals.

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Thank you for your work! I'm so glad to see there are people looking into the situation of the captive marine mammals in China and trying to educate the public.