The issue of whether we should allow marine parks to stay
open has been widely debated in our community recently. It is an important
issue because it concerns fundamental moral and economic questions about the way
we use our native wildlife. A variety of arguments have been put forward. This
essay will consider arguments for having marine parks and point to some of the
problems with these views. It will then put forward good reasons why laws
should be introduced to prohibit these unnecessary and cruel institutions.
It has
been argued that dolphin parks provide the only opportunity for much of the
public to see marine mammals (Smith, 1997). Most Australians, so this argument
goes, live in cities and never get to see these animals. It is claimed that
marine parks allow the average Australian to appreciate our marine wildlife.
However, as Smith states, dolphins, whales and seals can be viewed in thewild
at a number of places on the Australian coast. In fact, there are more places
where they can be seen in the wild than places where they can be seen in
captivity. Moreover, most Australians would have to travel shorter distances to
get to these wild locations than they would to get to themarine parks on the
Gold Coast. In addition, places where there are wild marine mammals do
not charge exorbitant entry fees - they are free.
Dr Alison Lane, Director of the
Cairns Marine Science Institute, contends that we need marine parks for
scientific research (The Age, 19.2.1999). She argues that much of our knowledge
of marine mammals comes from studies that were undertaken at marine parks. The
knowledge obtained at marine parks, she says, can be useful for planning for the conservation of marine
mammal species. However, as Jones (1998) explains, park research is only useful
for understanding captive animals and is not useful for learning aboutanimals
in the wild. Dolphin and whale biology changes in marine park conditions. Their
dietsare different, they have significantly lower life spans and they are more
prone to disease. Furthermore, marine mammals in dolphin parks are trained, and
this means that their patterns of social behaviour are changed. Therefore,
research undertaken at marine parks can be generallyseen to be unreliable.
It is
the belief of the Marine Park Owners Association that marine parks attract
numerous foreign tourists (The Sun-Herald2.4.1999). The organisation asserts that these tourists
spend a greatdeal of money, increasing our foreign exchange earnings and
assisting our national balance of
payments. However, it is arguable that foreign tourists would still come
to Australia if the parkswere closed. Indeed, recent surveys of overseas
tourists show that they come here for a variety of other reasons and not to
visit places like Seaworld (The Age, Good Weekend 16.8.1999). Touristscome here to see our native wildlife
in its natural environment and not to see it in cages andcement pools. There
are plenty of opportunities for them to see animals in these conditions intheir
own countries. What is more, we should be promoting our beautiful natural
environment totourists, not the ugly concrete marine park venues.
Marine parks
are unnecessary and cruel, and they should not be supported. The dolphins and whales
in these parks are kept in very small, cramped ponds, whereas in the wild they
are used toroaming long distances freely across the seas. Another point to
consider is that the concrete walls of the pools interfere with the animals'
sonar systems of communication making it difficult or impossible for them to
communicate with each other. A related argument is that keeping these animals in
confined areas is a terrible restriction of the freedom of highly intelligent
creatures that have sophisticated language ability. Moreover, the se animals are
friendly and helpful to human beings and as such deserve our respect. There are
many documented cases of marine mammals helping humans who are
in danger at sea or helpingfishermen with their work.
In conclusion, marine
parks need to be closed, or at the very least, no new animals should be captured
for marine parks in the future. Our society should no longer be prepared to
tolerateunnecessary cruelty to animals for the purposes of science or
entertainment. If these creatures continue to suffer as victims of captivity,
future generations will surely remember us as cruel and inhumane.
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