Beluga whales from Srednyaya Bay, recently released into the Sea of Japan, are swimming along the coast of the Primorye Territory, Alexei Smorodov, Press Secretary of the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

According to Smorodov, all the whales released before November 2019 have returned back to their natural environment and are inhabiting areas near their wild relatives.

He added that two of the 14 satellite-tagged beluga whales released into the Sakhalin Gulf on 2 October are staying close to each other.

“In October they were in the Sakhalin Gulf and in early November they began to swim south. Now they are in the Tatar Strait,” said Alexei Smorodov.

The expert noted that the movement of the beluga whales corresponds to the usual autumn migration of their wild relatives to the south, which indicates that the whales have returned back to their natural lifestyle.

“As for the large group of beluga whales released between 8 and 10 November in Uspeniya Bay in the Primorye Territory, we can say that they are swimming fast along the coast of Primorye close to the area where they were released. Some of the whales that were released remain in Uspeniya Bay, while the others have dispersed along the coast of Primorye to the north and south of the place where they were released. The maximum distance of the tagged beluga whales from the place of delivery in Uspeniya Bay was 40 km. So far, we can report that the mammals were released in a good physical condition and that they are really getting used to being in the wild and swimming to Uspeniya Bay and the Primorye coast for their food,” Alexei Smorodov concluded.