“In Russia, we have laws and policies to protect wild salmon habitat and critically endangered species like the Western Grey Whale. But here in Sakhalin, Shell is endangering both the whales and the salmon, and no one is stopping them.”

— Dmitry Lisitsyn, Sakhalin Environmental Watch

Protect Whales and Fishery from Oil Development / Russia - Victory

The waters around Russia's Sakhalin Island just north of Japan are one of the most plentiful - but threatened - marine environments on the Pacific Rim. The area is home to 25 marine mammal species, including 11 endangered species and the world's most critically endangered grey whale, the Western Grey Whale. It is also rich with crab, herring and cod, and one of the few healthy wild salmon fisheries remaining in the world. Indigenous communities have thrived on these abundant marine resources since the Neolithic Stone Age.

Another kind of wealth lies beneath Sakhalin's frigid waters - an estimated 13 billion barrels of oil. Royal Dutch/Shell leads one of three multinational oil consortia that began drilling off Sakhalin Island in the 1990s. The Shell–led Sakhalin Energy company stands to earn billions of dollars marketing oil and gas to Asian and U.S. markets, with a small fraction going to Russia. But Shell is trying to exploit Sakhalin's resources on the cheap, using outmoded technologies and inadequate environmental studies that could have catastrophic consequences for endangered whales, vital fisheries and the livelihoods of the indigenous Nivkhi community.

With a total population of around 100, the Western Grey Whale is already in serious trouble. The shallow waters off Sakhalin's northeast coast are the species' only known feeding ground. As bottom feeders, the whales scoop huge amounts of sediment from the ocean floor and use their baleen to filter out the benthos (animals and plants that live on the ocean floor) - their only food. In 1999, scientists reported seeing “skinny whales” - animals showing visible signs of malnourishment. By 2000, more than a quarter of the Western Grey Whale population was “skinny.” Scientists don't know why this is happening, but they say that unless left undisturbed in their Sakhalin feeding grounds, the whales will have little chance for recovery. During their five summer months at Sakhalin, the whales must build up enough fat to be able to survive the winter migration and to nurse their young.

Now is the critical moment for protecting the whales as well as Sakhalin's wild salmon, saffron cod and herring fisheries. Shell–led Sakhalin Energy is currently seeking financing for Phase 2 of its oil and gas project. Phase 2 poses unprecedented and unacceptable threats to Sakhalin's marine and onshore environments (see Related Info). The publicly funded United States Import–Export Bank (Ex–Im) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) should withhold financing for Phase 2 unless and until the project is redesigned to eliminate these irresponsible environmental impacts.

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