One key concern from environmental groups is that the Sakhalin-2 project will harm the western gray whale population. The whales summer feeding grounds are close to the project's offshore platforms in the Sea of Okhotsk.
In 2006, the International Union for Conservation of Nature set up the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel (WGWAP). Its members are marine scientists who give independent advice to Sakhalin Energy about managing any potential risks to the western gray whales. The Russian Academy of Sciences has identified an increasing population of western gray whales in the Sea of Okhotsk during a photo identification research programme. However, in February 2009 the WGWAP issued an urgent warning that the number of western gray whales observed in the primary (near shore) feeding area had decreased and the panel called for a "...moratorium on all industrial activities, both maritime and terrestrial, that have the potential to disturb gray whales in summer and autumn on and near their main feeding areas." In a meeting in April 2009, the WGWAP reiterated its urgent plea for a moratorium. Sakhalin Energy then agreed to suspend its planned summer 2009 seismic testing.
The Far Eastern Regional Hydrometeorological Research Institute is involved in regular monitoring of the western gray whales near the oil and gas developments on the Sakhalin Shelf.
In December 2008, Sakhalin Energy won the Environmental Project of the Year award. The company’s protection of the Western Gray Whale population was recognised in the Environmental Efficiency of Economics category. The award was presented by Yuri Trutnev, the Russian Federation’s Natural Resources Minister.
The most recent population assesmentin 2008 resulted in an estimate of 130 individuals in the western population. No new reproductive females were recorded in 2010, resulting in a minimum of 26 reproductive females being observed since 1995.
Multiple seismic surveys were conducted near Sakhalin in 2010, carried out separately by three companies Rosneft, Sakhalin Energy and Gazprom. The surveys conducted by Sakhalin Energy and Rosneft apparently had corresponding monitoring and mitigation plans. The monitoring data, including acoustic and visual information on whale distribution and behavior, is yet to be analyzed. Two of those seismic surveys occurred later in the year when more gray whales were present and temporally overlapped.
