MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. Researchers forming part of the council on the release of orcas and beluga whales held in the Srednyaya Bay in Russia’s Primorsky Region have asked the Russian Federal Agency for Fishery to report all sightings of released marine animals, Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) Vyacheslav Bizikov stated on Thursday.
"We have sent a request to the Amur Regional Directorate of the Russian Federal Agency for Fishery with the appeal to instruct all coastal fisher teams to report all sightings of orcas and beluga whales, with a corresponding form to fill out. The on-the-spot signals will help us expand our monitoring network near the marine coast and in the areas of fishing. If we receive a report that a group of orcas has been spotted with a specified time and place, we will have the grounds to state that the animal has returned to the wild, which is our goal," he said.
Eleven orcas had been kept for sale to China in the facility in Srednyaya Bay along with 90 beluga whales. However, three beluga whales and one orca went missing. A criminal case has been launched into illegal hunting of these mammals.
Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture together with scientific organizations in late February to come up with a solution regarding the situation with the captured animals. In mid-May, the Primorsky Region authorities announced that the mammals could be freed within two months. On June 21, the first batch of marine animals had been delivered to Khabarovsk.
On June 27, experts of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO) have set two orcas and six beluga whales free. The scientists have placed trackers on the orcas and the whales, which would help them track their movements and collect data on their behavior, VNIRO spokesperson Alexey Smorodov informed.