Getty ImagesVisitor numbers and financial revenues at SeaWorld suffered in the aftermath of the documentary and in 2016 they suspended their captive breeding programme.They rejected calls to release their remaining orcas into the wild, saying they would likely die if left to fend for themselves.Eighteen months ago they opened a new marine zoo in the United Arab Emirates, SeaWorld’s first outside the US.The new facility in Abu Dhabi is a $1.2bn (£966m) venture with state-owned leisure developer Miral and boasts the largest aquarium in the world.There aren’t any orcas on show here but, to the dismay of campaigners, dolphins still are.Wap have helped convince Expedia not to sell any more holidays involving performances by dolphins in captivity and want other travel companies to do the same.”Blackfish was more than a hit – it was a phenomenon,” writes the scientist Naomi Rose in a report by Wap. “I am convinced it pushed western society past the tipping point on the subject of captive cetaceans.”
