Researchers are conducting a genetic analysis of the 87 belugas being kept in Srednyaya Bay in the Primorye Territory to find out whether any of the whales are related, said Vyacheslav Rozhnov, director of the Severstov Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“The best option would be to release the belugas as families if there are there. This is why we are doing a genetic analysis now,” Rozhnov explained.

He said nobody has ever released so many sea mammals into the wild.

“There were just a few cases even with orcas,” he said, adding that all the mammals must be released, but it will be very difficult to do so in one go.