Washington lawmakers ponder captive marine mammal ban

OLYMPIA – A bill that would make Washington the first state to outlaw keeping whales, dolphins and porpoises in captivity at zoos and SeaWorld-style shows brought a cetaceans’-rights debate before a Senate committee Thursday afternoon.

Advocates for the Puget Sound’s endangered orca population told the Senate Natural Resources and Parks Committee the law would buttress the federal ban that ended Puget Sound orca captures in the 1970s and help move the nation away from keeping the marine mammals – a group known as cetaceans – in unnaturally small spaces. Critics of the bill said it would undermine their efforts to teach the public about animals. Each side produced marine biologists to testify for their claims.

“In captivity, these creatures that swim thousands of miles are put in a fish tank the size of the Washington state Senate floor, and I just think that’s totally unacceptable,” bill sponsor Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, told the committee.

His bill would also ban capturing the mammals, using them for breeding and importing cetaceans from elsewhere, even if they were born in captivity. There are no orcas, dolphins or porpoises currently on display in Washington.

Opponents of the bill from the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, whose website lists Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium as a member, said the bill would criminalize their efforts to introduce the public to whales and dolphins, and limit the ways of doing behavioral research.

“We must not handcuff our ability to care and educate now and in the future,” Rita Irwin, president-elect of the Alliance and CEO of the Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys, told the committee.