Beluga whales are highly social, intelligent cetaceans that face threats from captivity for entertainment, industrial development in Arctic habitats, and climate change. Their welfare both in the wild and captive settings raises important ethical questions.
Beluga welfare in captivity shares the fundamental problems of all cetacean captivity: the inability to replicate open-ocean movement, echolocation-based foraging, complex social dynamics, and deep-diving behaviour in pool environments. Belugas are highly acoustic animals who use vocalisations for social bonding, navigation, and foraging — tank acoustics bear no resemblance to their natural sound environment. The noise levels generated by aquarium filtration systems and spectator events are incompatible with the acoustic world belugas evolved for. Wild capture operations cause acute trauma: animals are herded, netted, restrained, and transported in conditions that cause severe stress and sometimes fatal injury. The ongoing Russian wild capture trade for Chinese aquariums represents a continuation of this harm at scale. Welfare organisations including the Whale Sanctuary Project are developing ocean sanctuary facilities as alternatives for retired captive belugas — a genuinely improved welfare outcome that acknowledges the impossibility of tank life meeting beluga needs while accepting the reality that fully captive animals cannot be released.