From Animal Welfare Institute <ealert@awionline.org>
Subject Tell Norwegian Government Not to Experiment on Minke Whales!
Date April 12, 2021 10:21 AM
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Tell Norwegian Government Not to Experiment on Minke Whales!

Dear John,

Mattilsynet--the Norwegian Food Safety Authority--has approved noise experiments on wild minke whales. The experiments are due to start soon and will involve capturing whales, placing them in a sea cage, and subjecting them to noise in auditory evoked potential (AEP) hearing tests. This project (identified by Mattilsynet as FOTS ID 19536) is expected to begin in May 2021 and last for several weeks, and will then be repeated in 2022. It will involve the setting of a 1,300-meter-long net across a strait in the Lofoten Islands area of northern Norway. The researchers will use the net to capture migrating juvenile minke whales in an enclosure. When a whale moves into the netted-off area, the entrance will be closed, trapping the whale inside. After 24 hours in the enclosure, the researchers plan to force the whale to move into a small, modified aquaculture cage, by pinning the whale between two rafts. Once in the cage, the researchers will attempt to measure the entrapped whale's brain waves in response to hearing sounds using electrophysiological techniques. The researchers estimate it will take up to six hours to complete the hearing testing, and each whale could be held for as long as four days before release.

This project is alarming for several reasons. Capture, restraint, and containment of wild whales can cause both physical and psychological stress and may impact the whales' health. There is a significant risk that the whales could panic once they are trapped. Several documented incidents of minke whales becoming entangled in aquaculture pens in Norway tell of the whales using great force and thrashing about wildly in a desperate attempt to break free, leading to serious injuries. Some of those incidents ended in the euthanasia of the whales. In addition, there is a risk that other marine mammals and seabirds could become entangled in the nets used to create the research area.

The project will also involve humans in the water with the whales. Because of how the whales may react, we believe these researchers will be at risk of serious injury. Given the size of minke whales, if they do respond to any of the proposed methods with great force, the safety of the researchers in the water cannot be guaranteed. The researchers are considering sedating the whales to reduce their stress, and even stunning them if an emergency safety situation arises. Sedation of whales is inherently risky, and is rarely attempted with captive whales, let alone whales in the wild. Furthermore, it is not clear that the veterinarian in the field will have any particular expertise in cetaceans.

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What You Can Do
You can email Mattilsynet ([link removed]) to urge cancellation of this project. Please be sure to share our alert with family, friends, and co-workers. As always, thank you very much for your help!

Sincerely,

Susan Millward
Marine Program Director

P.S. Follow us on Facebook ([link removed]), Twitter ([link removed]), and Instagram ([link removed]) for other important animal protection actions and news. Check out the latest edition of the AWI Quarterly ([link removed])!

Photo by Lillian Tveit

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The Animal Welfare Institute is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. We seek better treatment of animals everywhere: in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild.

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