Grey Whale conservation -Sakhalin Energy consortium heeds to the call of the environmentalists

Heeding to the call of environmentalists Russia’s Sakhalin Energy consortium has agreed to suspend oil operations during the breeding season of Grey Whales (Eschrichtius robustus). The main feeding area of the whales is in the Piltun Bay at the northeastern part of Sakhalin shelf. Conservationists the world over are delighted. Once declared extinct, the Western Pacific Gray whale was rediscovered in the late 1970s.

The Western Grey Whale is one of the world’s most endangered whales, with only 25 breeding females remaining. The whale feeds only in the summer. The whale is listed as "critically endangered" by Russia and is on the redlist of International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Recent research had shown how oil exploration could alter the behaviour of grey whales. Noise from oil and gas exploration has driven the whales into deeper waters making it hard for their calves to feed and thrive.

Things are not very rosy however. BP, Exxon and Rosneft operating in the area have ignored the appeal from conservationists so far. Conservationists the world over are making repeated appeals to the erring firms to heed to their call. Let us hope that wiser counsel would prevail.