42 | New Scientist | 28 November 2020enclosures are springing up around the
world, including in Iceland, Bali and Australia.
Wilson suggests this trend, along with the
financial strain of the pandemic, should be
an incentive to bring about a “positive end
to this decades-long story”.
Plans for Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut are already in
the works. With funds raised over the years
for her release, the Lummi have contracted
the Whale Sanctuary Project – a non-profit
organisation working to create a permanent
refuge for captive cetaceans off Nova Scotia
in Canada – to draft a proposal for how
she might be returned to the Salish Sea.
Executive director Charles Vinick, who
helped reintroduce Free Willy star Keiko
to the wild in Iceland two decades ago, says
Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s resilience would need to
be evaluated in stages, starting with a health
assessment. She also needs to be taught
survival basics, such as how to catch live fish
and how to swim at speed, before there is
any possibility of reintegration with her pod.
“The key to this is doing it responsibly – for
her, for her family and for the other Southern
Resident orcas in the area,” says Vinick.
Nevertheless, he believes that of all the
attempts to free Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut over
the decades, this one has the greatest
chance of success because it is a “spiritual
endeavour” led by the Lummi. For Morris,
the cooperation across worlds is creating
unstoppable momentum for Sk’aliCh’elh-
tenaut’s release. “We have the culture, they
have the science, and now we have the law,”
she says. “We are going to complete our
sacred obligation.”
One party, however, has yet to come to the
table. A Miami Seaquarium spokesperson
declined an interview with New Scientist,
saying the organisation didn’t comment on
pending or threatened litigation. However,
in September, curator Chris Plante released
a statement reiterating the Seaquarium’s
previous position, that the “perilous move...
could endanger the life of Lolita”.
Vinick, Visser and others accept that
Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s advanced age and
half-century in captivity mean she isn’tecosystems. In July, they informed the Miami
Seaquarium and its parent companies in
writing of their intent to sue under NAGPRA.
The Miami Seaquarium, having received
federal funds, meets the definition of a
museum, so is subject to this legislation, they
argue. Their aim is for Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut
to be repatriated as “cultural patrimony”,
defined by NAGPRA as “an object having
ongoing historical, traditional or cultural
importance central” to a Native American
group or culture.
“I think it is unique,” says Jan Bernstein
of Bernstein & Associates NAGPRA
Consultants in Denver, Colorado, who
isn’t involved in the case. She believes the
argument is convincing and, if successful,
would set a precedent in terms of applying
the law to a living animal. However, she
adds, filing a lawsuit would be the last
step of many to reaching an agreement.
Indeed, it may not come to that. Grant
Wilson, executive director of the Earth LawCenter, is hopeful that the Miami Seaquarium
can be persuaded to partner with the Lummi
on Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut’s release. There is
mounting opposition to keeping cetaceans
in captivity, he says. Other marine parks have
already taken the initiative. For instance, the
National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland,
has been working towards relocating its
eight bottlenose dolphins to a managed
“ocean sanctuary” since 2016. SimilarSouthern Resident orcas
are few in number, but have
been intensely studied“ The Lummi draw
no distinction
between their
‘blackfish’ and
human kin”
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