Sea World Whale Safari Voided by Court in Alaska

A U.S. district court judge in Anchorage, Alaska, supporting a lawsuit brought by a coalition of environmentalists, has voided a federal permit authorizing Sea World of San Diego to capture 100 killer whales along the Alaskan coast, it was announced Monday.

Judge James A. von der Heydt ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service erred in issuing Sea World a whale capture permit in November, 1983, because officials of the aquatic park did not properly submit an environmental impact study beforehand.

The purpose of such a study would have been to gauge the ecological impact of the whale captures on the food chain and on the close-knit killer whale families--called pods--which inhabit Alaskan coastal waters.

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Heydt’s written decision, signed last Wednesday but released on Monday, effectively prevents Sea World from taking any killer whales from the wild. The park has three killer whales, all captured several years ago in Icelandic waters. They serve as the park’s mascot and represent its most popular animal attraction.

Although Sea World has held the federal capture permit for more than a year, its biologists have yet to attempt any whale round-ups because of widespread opposition among Alaskan officials and citizens.

Sea World officials last week said that they were awaiting Heydt’s ruling before deciding whether to attempt captures this year. On Monday, those officials declined to comment on the court’s decision, but it is expected that they will appeal it.

“Sea World can’t do anything; they are enjoined from taking whales and we’re real pleased about that,” said Suzanne LaPierre, an attorney in Juneau for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, which brought suit to block the captures.

Also included as plaintiffs in the Legal Defense Fund’s lawsuit were the environmental group Greenpeace, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and a handful of Alaskan charter boat operators.

Environmentalists and Alaskan leaders hailed Monday’s announcement as a victory for animal rights as well as for Alaskans in managing their state’s natural resources. Sea World opponents in Alaska have argued that they were given inadequate say before Sea World was granted the capture permit in November, 1983.

“I’m very pleased that the court has seen the merits of our arguments,” Alaska Gov. Bill Sheffield said. “We assume that we would be part of the permit process should Sea World decide to reapply for federal permission.”

Request Rejected

Sheffield last year formally asked U.S. Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige to withdraw Sea World’s permit. However, Baldrige, who oversees the fisheries service, rejected the request.

Under the plan approved by the fisheries service, Sea World would have been allowed to briefly detain 90 whales. The black-and-white animals were to be be corralled in the wild and subjected to scientific tests before being released. Another 10 killer whales were to be taken into permanent captivity to be displayed, bred and trained to perform at Sea World’s parks in San Diego, Ohio and Florida.

Some Alaskan residents, including native American tribes, branded the plan cruel and commercially exploitative.