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Georgia Aquarium Waits Almost a Year on Application to Import Beluga Whales

May 20th, 2013

Almost a year ago, the Georgia Aquarium asked the federal government for permission to import 18 Beluga whales from Russia. But the Aquarium still hasn’t gotten a response.

The decision is in the hands of the Fisheries Section of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Aquarium officials say they expected a decision late last year about 30 days after the public comment period ended.

But when WABE asked NOAA how long the decision has taken in similar cases, the response, in an email was, “NOAA Fisheries has never had a similar application.” The email also called the application “complicated” and “highly controversial.”An audio version of this story

That does not sit well with Billy Hurley, the Aquarium’s Chief Zoological Officer, who told WABE, “When they say a comment like, ‘Wow it’s highly controversial,’ really, I don’t know if that’s true at all based on the fact that over 94% of people in the United States that have been polled say that they love what we do with these animals.”

NOAA says the 7,900 public comments indicate how controversial the application is; most of the comments were in opposition to the Aquarium’s plan which is to display and study the animals. All 18 Belugas would not live in Atlanta. They would be housed in up to six different aquariums around the country. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, two accrediting agencies, have endorsed the Aquarium’s application

Hurley says the aquarium is trying to be patient with NOAA, but that’s getting harder and harder to do. “We do ask. We do call. We do write,” says Hurley. “But we have found in the last several months, we’re just not getting a lot of answers. We’re getting a lot of silence.”

NOAA is no longer giving an estimated date of when it will make its decision.