Sea World Parks | Blue World Project

[tomahawk]

http://blueworldproject.seaworld.com/


Once again, SeaWorld is on the leading edge of innovation and science with the announcement of these first-of-its-kind killer whale environments. These new homes will build upon SeaWorld’s legacy of providing state-of-the-art animal living spaces and offering park guests unique killer whale encounters, inspiring generations to come.
The new killer whale homes and related research initiatives have a bold vision: to advance global understanding of these animals, to educate, and to inspire conservation efforts focused on protecting killer whales in the wild.
The first of these environments will be built at SeaWorld San Diego and is planned to have a water volume of 10 million gallons, nearly double that of the existing facility. With a maximum depth of 50 feet and a surface area of nearly 1.5 acres spanning more than 350 feet in length, there will be no other realm like this in the world. The new environment will also have views exceeding 40 feet in height, providing guests with the world’s largest underwater killer whale viewing experience.
Named the Blue World Project because of its size and scope, the new environment will allow for increased engagement with SeaWorld experts through new enrichment experiences and interactive programs. The environment will enhance the educational experience for guests, foster deeper knowledge of killer whales and their ocean environment, and inspire guests young and old to celebrate and conserve the natural world.
Expanding on SeaWorld’s legacy of animal environment design, the enlarged environment will provide killer whales with even more dynamic opportunities. It will support the whales’ broad range of behaviors and provide choices that can challenge them both physically and mentally.
Among other things, it is planned to include a “fast water current” that allows whales to swim against moving water, thus functionally increasing speed and diversity. Innovative features focused on husbandry and animal care will offer SeaWorld’s animal health professionals and independent scientists unique access to the whales that can lead to a better understanding and care of the animals both in the parks and in the wild.
The San Diego environment is expected to open to the public in 2018 with new killer whale homes to follow at SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Antonio

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basically, a direct response to the slanderous Blackfish. Up to 50 foot deep tanks, cross current water areas, 1.5 acres of water area for the Orcas, doubling the size of the current tank. Probably a good move after tanking stock prices, but they still need to sue the **** out of the makers of Blackfish IMO.

 

[marc]

Sea World Parks announce Blue World Project

I think the plans look stunning and it's a great step forward.

No matter what people think of Blackfish it's made the parks get their arse in gear and give the whales and us a much better experience.

Cannot wait to see these built.

I've accepted the fact whales are always going to be kept in captivity so as long as they get a tank like this it's not as bad.

Wonder if the shows will still take place?

 

[tomahawk]

Re: Sea World Parks announce Blue World Project

I think there will be a different type of "show" but not along the lines of what they currently have. I'm assuming it will be almost all educational, and maybe a trick or two.

 

[gavin]

Re: Sea World Parks announce Blue World Project

I'm in two minds really.

Yes, these new tanks will clearly be much better for the animals, but this kind of investment just proves that they have no intention of scaling down / eventually getting rid of them.

They can shout education and conservation as much and as loudly as they want; they're there for entertainment and profit. Nothing wrong with that; it's just the dishonesty and treating your customers like idiots that annoys me.

We've discussed the whole Blackfish thing to death. It was clearly made with an agenda, but if a company as big as Sea World could have sued the makers of that film for slander, you can bet they would have.

 

[nadroJ]

Re: Sea World Parks announce Blue World Project

It's weird to me that they're that delusional? Like they genuinely think the killer whales are there to stay, and this new enclosure proves that.

 

[marc]

Re: Sea World Parks announce Blue World Project

People have been working it out that if the one they are starting will be ready in 2018 it will mean the one in Orlando will probably be complete by about 2022. This is still way off.

That's if they just do one park at a time.

Like Gavin my views on this are so mixed.

 

[Robbie]

Re: Sea World Parks announce Blue World Project

Seems the only logical way to go. The Shamu shows were always **** anyway so no great loss.

 

[owentaylor121]

Still not big enough, I don't care what anyone says, these animals need the ocean. It does not take that long to construct a project like this, Sea World need to get their arses into gear and finish this as soon as possible. It's a start but still no where near the space these animals need.

 

[SilverArrow]

This is a good step but is actually something that was in the planning stages before Blackfish but has happened to coincide with it. It is disappointing to see that activists don't seem pleased with this announcement but just proves that they do indeed have a general anti zoo outlook rather than wanting to improve things.

Imo the problem with SeaWorld is that because they are trying to compete with visitors with Disney and Universal etc they have glammed up their shows in competition. The training, care and behind the scenes work is all top notch (animals don't care whether you have a silly outfit on or not) but I think it gives some people the wrong vibe. They do however get people through their doors who wouldn't usually visit a zoo or aquarium so that is something good!

SeaWorld are a victim of their own popularity though, before we had whales in aquaria people used yo think that they were terrible evil beasts but now everyone is familiar with 'Shamu' and his family people have lots of emotions about it and along comes the anthropomorphic claims that we know how they are feeling etc.

I hope that maybe they can work on improving their conservation image (although they already do a lot behind the scenes) like some other aquariums have done like Vancouver. The trouble is a lot of people want to see change to suit their own conscience, rather than what may be best for the animals (I.e. they may feel more comfortable watching a show with an educational narration more than one with people in costumes but to the animal it's no different).

The population of orcas that the SeaWorld orcas are from are currently experiencing a decline due to overfishing and pollution so I think it could be useful to have a captive stock. A lot of animals do also migrate long distances for food and as they are given their food in zoos and aquaria there is not necessarily a need for them to travel so far. (We used to travel large distances but I doubt many people would be keen on running marathons for their breakfast each morning!) Studies have shown that some zoo animals do better in smaller enclosures or do better in better thought-out enclosures than just overly large ones so it should be considered as quality over quantity in a lot of situations. This addition certainly seems to add quality, so we'll shall see!

 

[owentaylor121]

I'm all for zoos if the space is right, a dolphin is a perfect sized animal for a zoo, but a whale is not, I loved Sea World when I visited, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for the orcas, they tried to lie with false facts and that isn't ok.
I think Sea World need to focus more on the fact they are a theme park, they have constantly defended themselves against Black Fish by showing how much work they do for animals and the conservation work they do, they need to advertise themselves as a theme park and not an animal sanctuary.

 

[marc]

Sea World were not a theme park years ago they had no rides when I first went.

They are a zoo or whatever you want to call it but they added rides to help boost attendance.

As I've found out Blackfish is full of lies so much of it is wrong. Yes no tank is ever going to big enough for whales, sharks and Dolphins but none of these can just be returned to the wild.

The CEO has stepped down now, blackfish had done serious damage but they will never achieve what they want and there are worse parks out there.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30438924

 

[SilverArrow]

In response to owenrita121:

Fair enough. It's interesting that you say that SeaWorld are giving false facts because all I've seen is them try to highlight their rescue work that previously was all behind the scenes (and is made possible by the profit and popularity of the park). I have however seen a lot of activists claim all sorts things that are clearly lies! (Like the pools bring chlorinated, dorsal fin collapse being a stress sign etc.) I'd be interested to hear which things they've said that you think are lies.

And more in general:

Why can't they be both a theme park and an animal facility? The funds they generate has great potential for some good impacts (some which are already happening). Building a rollercoaster or two doesn't take away any positive conservation impacts of a park. As I think I said earlier they have a much larger reach than any zoo so there is still a niche for a bridge between the two if done right I think. I still do think that they should take this opportunity to work on any weak areas in their work. If they can pull these expansions off coupled with maybe more educational shows they could really pull a good comeback.

Edit: my impression with the CEO thing was that they've swapped that guy out to try and find someone more media focused who can aid in getting their messages out. Activists are saying it's a victory but that guy is still going to be on the board and consulting. Loads of companies change CEOs when their companies change directions a bit so I don't think it's necessarily negative. It could provide some new positive things. They're under the microscope in the media at the moment so any slight change it spun in a negative way by certain anti news outlets.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

I agree with Gavin. I had a similar discussion with Jordan back in August. We live in a world heading towards increased animal rights awareness. Its WEIRD for a brand as huge as SeaWorld to not take notice of this.

I don't personally have an issue with them having performing cetaceans. I certainly don't see the difference between dolphins and orcas, morally.

Buy regardless of that fact, its plain to see that much of the world does. And I've gotta admit, SeaWorld's recent celebratory news of the newborn calf in California made me cringe a bit, because you know we're heading for an inbreeding mess. (already are?)

Bring an animal focused theme park is fine, but I think their show animals as their signature attraction should be fazed out. So when the world finally says no, they're ready.

 

[marc]

The way most zoos are heading is towards keeping endangered animals only with some normal ones.

As I've said before with modern technology they have learnt more about Dolphins, sharks and whales in the wild in the past 5 years than 20 of keeping them in captivity.

There no need to keep then other for our entertainment or an easy chance to to see them.

They need to stop the breading programs as the whales do not re produce naturally in captivity so it's easy to do. Let the ones they have live out the best lives they can and just let the program come to an end.

Blackfish is full of crap but Sea World did not deal with it well and now they are suffering.

For me sea world is not a theme park, it's a zoo with rides. I mainly see it that way as I explained before.

 

[SilverArrow]

Joey, I agree that I think that they should have seen it coming. As I mentioned before other Aquariums like Vancouver went through a transition phase to being more visibly conservation focused back around the Free Willy period and they recently got a bill against them overthrown due to public support (and the undoing of some silly local politics) because people realised the Aquarium's value.

I'm not sure how inbred the whales are if at all. I think there is one individual who is inbred that I think was by mistake but currently the rest are generally ok. I think they also trade AI samples with other non-Seaworld parks to keep the gene pool as large as possible. I'm also not sure how regularly they breed them at all either. AI is regularly done with many other species (horses, cows, dogs and other zoo animals) but activists have made it into an issue with whales.

Marc, you are right that many zoos are transitioning to keeping more endangered species but it is often the popular crowd-drawing species that pull in guests. Penguins and Meerkats are not endangered yet you see them at nearly all zoos because the public LOVE them. If Seaworld can do positive things towards the conservation of endangered species (which they have been doing and are working more on now) then as long as the popular ambassador animals are being looked after well then I personally don't see an issue with them being there. We have a tonne of endangered bugs but nobody cares about those. The only way we're ever going to raise money for those species is by using the popular animals as fundraisers. Also our list of endangered species is ever increasing so what isn't endangered today, may well be tomorrow so I think it's good that we have a wide range of taxa in our care for this and also for educational reasons.

Orca can and have bred naturally in captivity. Only 5 of all of the calves were bred, for certain through AI (as they were allowed to naturally breed as well). A number of them have been naturally conceived in the past. The first calf was born in 1985 and the first AI calf didn't come along until 2001.

Glad to see people are using logic with their arguments, what a good discussion! Can't wait to see how this project unfolds. Hopefully we'll things will get moving soon!

 

[marc]

I cannot see this project happening now tbh. I think the damage is done and no matter what they do they cannot recover from it.

From what I've read none of sea world whales have ever naturally re produced?

I do think it's a shame that the good world Sea World do is bring over looked. There are many whales being kept in tiny tanks that Blackfish sound have looked at, but they went after the big player.

On my zoo day I had at Colchester zoo I was shocked to find out that rhino in the wild will be gone in 7 years, amour Lepods there are only 35 left.

In this day and age what the **** are we doing.

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Honestly, Marc, the answer to "what the **** are we doing" is animal charities wasting money instead of actually saving species.

Unfortunately, some animals have to go extinct in the wild. They always have done, long before we were here, and always will continue to in a changing world. We're accentuating those changes to world, sure - but plenty of species thrive in our presence.

SeaWorld as a whole company is just like any other zoo - they do things I think are great and things I think are questionable. Outside of the Orcas, there's issues like BGW have white tigers that are being bred as an endangered species, which is an outright lie. Or like how their ray touching pool is full of animals with lesions from over petting - which is exactly why aquariums elsewhere started to faze it out. But they are also a company who're caring for hundreds, maybe thousands, of animals behind the scenes at each of their parks. Local wildlife, even, in the case of BGW, who've occasionally brought an opossum that isn't on display out to educate the public that they aren't gross and please don't hurt them.

I'm not sure how inbred the whales are if at all.

There aren't many whales in captivity and they can't take any more out of the wild.

Many captive species that have been in captivity for a long time have inbreeding problems, the whales will one day.

 

[marc]

Joey could not agree more. I had no idea about the White tigers until you posted years ago, they have stopped the program I believe.

I know animals die off etc naturally, the ones I have a problem with are the ones humans are killing off. Tigers, rhino it's all about money and cures that don't even work. People need educating.

 

[furie]

Everybody should be forced to read "Last chance to see" (both the Douglas Adams and Stephen Fry versions). They really bring home how on the edge animals (and plants in some cases) are. Though that's a bit off topic - but go and read them!!!

 

[marc]

I was actually reduced to tears when I was told about only 35 Amour Lepods left in the wild and in less than 7 years there will be no rhino. It's just not right and soon a zoo will be the only place to see them, until people go in and kill them in the zoo as well.