Whalefest 2015 - Some Highlights, including Ric O'Barry

Whalefest 2015 programme

O'Barry (left) and Travers in conversation

The Whalefest in Brighton is now in its fourth year. Its a remarkable thing. A celebration that now brings in grade A celebrities (like TV stars Monty Halls and Gordon Buchanan) and some of the super-stars of the animal conservation and welfare world.

Brighton Pier

One of the strongest themes here is a call for the end to dolphinaria. Highlights for me so far have included an interview between Wil Travers, of the Born Free Foundation and Ric O'Barry, who was once Flipper's training, and now a leading advocate against the captivity of cetaceans.

O'Barry took to the stage to loud applause and whoops of delight from an audience of several hundred and the conversation focused around the fate of dolphins and whales that are now in captivity.

O'Barry said that they should be taken to a sea pen or a fenced off cove, birth control measures should be applied and they should be allowed to thus spend the rest of their days. (This would apply to animals that could not be returned to the wild of course).

'Captive dolphins', said O'Barry, 'are not ambassadors, they are victims!'

Ric and Wil in conversation - image on the screen
shows the young O'Barry with one of the Flippers

A kid asked O'Barry, 'why do you like dolphins so much?'

And he explained that he did not know really ... but when he was a child, this was during world war two, he and his mum were watching dolphins from the shore and she told him about how dolphins rescued people in trouble, including shot-down airmen... there is something very special about this!

Naomi Rose extends her distant support
to Dolphin Free Europe on the big screen

Other highlights for me included a modest talk on the small stage about trying to address ship-strikes on whales (work being developed through the International Whaling Commission) from Fabian Ritter and an exciting contribution from Alex Elliot of WAP on the growing threat of marine debris.


I am now looking forward to hearing the great whale biologist Hal Whitehead talk about culture in cetaceans later today.

(I made a presentation on whaling and I will publish an excerpt from this on this blog later. This is linked to the launch of a petition to the next British Prime minster that we launched with a number of other groups here at the 'fest.)

Captive orca graveyward on Brighton beach

Fabian Ritter speaks about the IWSC's work on
ship-strikes

key conclusions

Jennifer Berengueras of SOSdolpins
speaks about the campaign against Spanish dolphinaria

Sam and Sam of Dolphinaria-Free Europe

Stephen Marsh of BDMLR talks about porpoises
(He has one under his arm)