The Whale Sanctuary Project

Progress at The Sanctuary site: engineering work, infrastructure, planning and permits, fundraising for capital costs, potential Whale candidates for The Sanctuary and timeline going forward; progress at The Sanctuary site studies on land, seabed and water: with The help of our new work boat, we completed a two-year study of tidal flows, water pressure and chemistry, temperature gradients and other conditions, as well as work on positioning The anchoring structure and The perimeter net. This net will enclose The 100-plus acres where The whales will live. Not only have these given us a good understanding of The environment for The whales and The Sanctuary infrastructure, they are also required for permitting. Our focus of study included The land and The seabed to understand The soil and rock and determine how best to anchor The nets that will surround The Sanctuary waters. On The seabed, this data helps us to know where best to place The net anchors so The perimeter net will be stable in The tidal flow and in currents of every kind. And on The land, we need to plan The optimum locations for foundations for The buildings and infrastructure. This required taking samples of The earth to measure The depth of each layer and of The water table. Local geo-technical engineers worked with our net systems designers to align The net systems design with local conditions based on our hydrodynamic model of The currents, water levels, sediment transport and salinity of The bay. These studies also provided The information required by The department of fisheries & oceans on how our net anchoring system will interface with The subsurface sediment, known as The benthic zone. Offer of lease we received The offer of lease for Sanctuary waters from The department of natural resources and renewables. The offer of lease makes available to The Sanctuary a total water space of 205 acres. This includes 100-plus acres for The whales, barachois island (The small island just off The shore, where one end of The perimeter net will be anchored), a security zone around The Sanctuary, and The space needed for The anchoring system. Infrastructure and buildings work proceeded on infrastructure planning (water, power, internet, etc.) And on design development for key Sanctuary buildings: veterinary services, animal care, marine operations, net and site maintenance, security, and administration. First nations consultation The Sanctuary is located in The ancestral and unceded territory of The mi'kmaq people and we continued our proponent participation in The nation- to-nation consultation between The federal government and The tribal leadership and mi'kmaq bands. Formal government-to-government consultation about The Sanctuary Project was initiated by The nova scotia government at The end of 2021, and we greatly appreciated The cooperation and encouragement of mi'kmaq elders and authorities throughout 2022 as they continue consultations at that level. Fundraising we completed The funding for The purchase of Sanctuary lands and we received a generous commitment of 5 million toward construction of The Sanctuary buildings, The state-of-the-art perimeter net that will surround The Sanctuary waters, and The Sanctuary infrastructure, including power, water and internet. Sanctuary certification we worked with The global federation of animal sanctuaries to create accreditation guidelines for cetacean sanctuaries. These will serve as a checklist for future sanctuaries and will have The added benefit of helping people to distinguish authentic sanctuaries from entertainment facilities. This work is a cooperative effort with The national aquarium in baltimore and sea life trust. Our current Whale aid program Whale aid tokitae in may 2022, The mayor of miami-dade county , The new owners of The miami seaquarium, and friends of toki, announced an agreement by which a team of independent veterinarians would conduct comprehensive evaluations of The orca tokitae (better known by her "stage" name lolita) l.and publicly report on her physical and mental health and well-being. In previous years, The Whale Sanctuary Project had worked with sacred lands conservancy, an indigenous-led non-profit, to develop a comprehensive operational plan for The safe and responsible possible relocation of tokitae from her current pool at The miami seaquarium to an ocean-based habitat in The salish sea. And through The rest of 2022, members of The Whale Sanctuary Project team, including executive director, charles vinick, built upon The previous work with sacred lands conservancy to provide advice and expertise to friends of toki. Charles vinick also served as a volunteer board member of friends of tokitae. Funding for this work, including staff time for members of The Whale Sanctuary Project, was fully supported by donations to Whale Sanctuary Project by friends of tokitae's co-founder, environmentalist pritam singh. In addition to The expenses above there were donated services of 5,858.83.

Outreach and education in february 2022, 4th-grade students at schluter elementary in haslet, Texas, presented a remarkable art show entitled "showcase art not whales and dolphins." The presentation was part of an ongoing program on The part of The Whale Sanctuary Project to teach people of all ages about The complex intelligence, cognitive abilities and extensive emotions of whales and dolphins. The students' presentation led to The development of a curriculum - "wild for whales" - by one of The teachers, who has made it available to schools in other parts of The united states and canada. Our education program included talks to students of all ages at schools and colleges. We also conducted webinars with Whale experts, philosophers, artists and educators on topics that explored how, like us humans, cetaceans are self-aware beings who share strong emotional and social bonds and live according to cultural traditions.