Campaigns to end captive display of cetaceans have achieved significant progress globally. Understanding this progress helps advocates target remaining opportunities.
Marine mammal captivity reform represents one of the clearest welfare policy success stories of the past decade. The combination of Blackfish's public impact, sustained NGO campaigning, and growing scientific consensus on cetacean welfare produced regulatory change in multiple major countries within a decade. The remaining challenges are completing phase-outs in countries with existing facilities and developing viable sanctuary alternatives for animals that cannot be returned to the wild. Coastal sanctuaries - large netted sea bays providing naturalistic conditions - represent the welfare-optimal outcome for long-term captive cetaceans.