Village Roadshow’s China Marine Park Deal Over!
You may recall Black Cove, along with advocates, scientists and media in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Asia have been questioning and pressuring Village Roadshow Limited (VRL) for over 2 years regarding its “Master Plan” to expand its businesses throughout Asia. Our focus has been predominantly on its “flagship” overseas marine park, R & F Ocean Paradise.
Since 2010 VRL (Owners of Sea World Australia) has been co-developing a marine-based theme park on the island of Hainan in China. This development has been plagued by delays and infrastructure issues and finally, it seems, is no longer a commercially-viable option.
At their most recent shareholder AGM Village Roadshow announced an end to the agreement:
“Recently we ended our agreement to manage the proposed marine theme park in China on Hainan Island.”
They go on to say, “Village Roadshow is committed to the considered pursuit of opportunities within the Asian region which leverage our expertise within this attractive market.”
Just a few days prior to the AGM a VRL spokesperson also announced that no animals would be sourced from the wild for Village Roadshow “managed” parks.
Victory or Not?
Village Roadshow’s AGM announcement also suggests that they will continue to build more marine parks in countries with little or no animal welfare legislation, and that is not good.
Sea World, when defending these developments, will no doubt proclaim their intention will be to raise the bar of animal welfare in these regions; in fact they have alluded to this.
In October 2014, Black Cove was told by Sea World’s Director of Marine Science, “I think we can take a professional operation to Asia. I think we can be valued, I think that we can institute generational change in Asia.”
This type of reasoning, for example, is the same used previously by WAZA and currently by IMATA when challenged on their direct connections to the Taiji Dolphin Drive hunts. There is no evidence that any bar is being raised.
Since the yearly documentation of the Dolphin Drive Hunts in Taiji, it has been shown that the cruelty of the captive-selection process remains equal to, if not greater than when documentation began. The official documentation doesn’t include the number of ‘incidental’ deaths during the drives. Lifting the bar regarding the welfare of the animals involved is a tired excuse, one without any foundation to back it up.
We also need to consider-what now for R & F Ocean Paradise?
Will it still continue and open as a marine park? If so, who will be managing it and who will be responsible for animal procurement? There are no promises from R & F Properties not to source animals from the wild, and we all know from where the majority of China’s marine parks get their dolphins.
It would be naive to think that VRL’s decision to end its agreement with R & F Properties was made in just this last two weeks. The rumour that this park would not go ahead has been around for quite some time.
Village Roadshow is a multi-million-dollar entertainment company making multi-million-dollar business decisions. In nearly all cases these kind of decisions are not made or broken based on emotion or any reason other than financial viability.
It is possible that recent change in public opinion regarding wild captures and keeping Orca captive, due to films such as “Blackfish,” combined with the work of animal and marine welfare organisations and resulting in SeaWorld USA’s current financial woes, may have played a part in the decision to announce “no wild captures.” In Australia it has been illegal to capture cetaceans from the wild since 1994. Village Roadshow and Sea World Australia are Australian companies, so it is also possible that they are genuine in their commitment to not source from the wild. We are hopeful.
Given developmental delays and problems, the decision to not go ahead with R & F Ocean Paradise Marine Theme Park at all would more than likely have been a financial one in the end.
What About Other Marine Parks?
It is also worth noting that Village Roadshow has made no announcements regarding other memorandums of understanding and/or development deals.
In their 2014 Investor Presentation it was noted that Village Roadshow had the following ‘Key Agreements’ in place:
In 2015’s half-yearly Investor Presentation:
VRL strangely continues to deny any connection to the US-based SeaWorld and is in fact continuing with plans to develop marine-based theme parks in the very near future.
It is clear they are forging ahead with plans to expand their brand in Asia and at the end of the day R & F Ocean Paradise was just a hiccup along the way.
From Where Will Their Animals Come?
This question still remains.
As mentioned earlier, in a Gold Coast Bulletin Article published just days before their shareholder AGM, VRL also announced that:
“all animals kept in parks it managed would be sourced from captive breeding programs.”
and
“No cetaceans will be sourced from wild stocks at any park Village Roadshow Theme Parks manages nor are there any plans to house orcas”
This sounds good and is a start, but is by no means conclusive and in fact is quite confusing. Which is it, all animals or only cetaceans? So let’s look at these statements individually:
“No cetaceans will be sourced from wild stocks at any park Village Roadshow Theme Parks manages….” What about own, co-own or invest in? Lets keep in mind VRL has signed a “joint venture” with CITIC Trust Company to establish and manage funds together-funds which will be used to invest in theme parks.
The Japanese trade statistics show China is the biggest international importer of live dolphins from Japan, and Japan continues to capture wild dolphins in Taiji for the Marine Park Industry. Sea World has publicly condemned these drive hunts.
Increasing the demand for captive bred dolphins in the same region will increase the demand for wild caught breeding stock, as the already existing Chinese marine parks will look towards selling the offspring from their breeding programs to new marine parks, on top of restocking their own show animals.
How can VRL ensure their parks won’t have an effect on the Taiji Dolphin Drive Hunts by stocking their parks with 1st or 2nd generation captive bred Taiji dolphins?
“All animals…sourced from captive breeding programs.” Does this include sharks, fish, rays, penguins and Polar Bears? What about whale sharks?
As far as we are aware, there are no captive-breeding programs currently for whale sharks.
In October 2014, Black Cove was told by Sea World’s Director of Marine Science that the Hainan Island project would be “a standard marine park.” It would house dolphins, polar bears, beluga and whale sharks. Although the relationship with R & F Ocean Paradise is now defunct and VRL will not be involved in that particular project, further comments made by Sea World during that conversation were expressed as acceptable standards to VRL expansion plans. Which begs the question-which of the two recent statements is the truth?
When asked from where the whale sharks would be sourced, he stated,
“I would actually make assumptions that it will be off Hainan Island.”
When questioned about other animals, he said: “obviously some animals are going to come from the wild.”
After speaking with Sea World, Black Cove wrote to Australia’s Environment Minister Mr. Greg Hunt, questioning VRL’s overseas marine park development. Minister Hunt rightly responded with a reminder that “While the Government does not have jurisdiction over the activities conducted in other countries, all dolphins, whales, polar bears and whale sharks are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).“
It is worth noting that whale sharks are listed as vulnerable and migratory under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), and in which it is stated, “Sadly, it is when the sharks leave Australian waters that they are potentially at risk of ‘unsustainable hunting pressure’.”
Whale sharks are also classified as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.
When we raised the issue of Orca, we were told, “at this point in time there are certainly no plans to have Orca” — at this point in time?
This statement appears to have been reiterated in the most recent comment from VRL, however given Asia’s growing demand for marine parks, Russia’s renewed Orca captures and SeaWorld USA’s Orca woes, would anyone be surprised if VRL’s plans changed some time in the future?
One thing is for certain–the Asian Aquarium Industry is flooded with dolphins, wild caught from fisheries the likes of Taiji and the Solomons. Wildlife trafficking is rife in these countries and whale sharks are increasingly being captured for these parks. Should Village Roadshow continue with their Asian expansion plans, it will be extremely difficult for it to avoid having any wild-caught animals from these industries.
Black Cove will continue to oppose the development of ANY marine parks that hold animals for entertainment anywhere, and as always, we will continue to work with like-minded advocates and maintain our pressure on Village Roadshow, whilst keeping a close eye on its ‘Master Plan.’
*Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed on this website and in this article are solely those of the original authors.
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