Aspro Ocio Group, a Spanish operator with the largest number of leisure parks and centres has acquired Newquay based aquarium operator Blue Reef Leisure.

Blue Reef has four facilities in the UK and has further plans to build an aquarium in Bristol but it is claimed that Bristol Aquarium will not include marine mammals. However the Marine Connection has concerns that this may not be the case for any future plans the company has and could be yet another threat of captive dolphins and whales being reintroduced into the UK, especially as Aspro Ocio Group owns several facilities in Belgium and Spain which currently hold captive cetaceans.

The Marine Connection and Captive Animals’ Protection Society (CAPS) continue our campaign calling on the government to introduce legislation prohibiting the keeping of dolphins, whales and porpoises in captivity in the UK in order to prevent such facilities being established in the future.