Captured Beluga Whales Caught in Legal Dispute

The fate of 18 captured Beluga whales is currently being determined after a Georgia aquarium went to court Wednesday seeking federal permission to bring these mammals to the United States from Russia, according to reports.

The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta sued the NOAA in September over rights to acquire the whales, which were captured off the coast of northern Russia in the Sea of Okhotsk and are currently in the care of Russian scientists.

Both sides argued their case before a federal judge Wednesday, but reaching a final decision could take months.

Of the five Beluga whale populations in the United States, just one of them is currently endangered, the NOAA reports, while the others are reportedly stable. However, the government contends that bringing in the whales would contribute to the decline of wild populations as well as violate the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Meanwhile, the aquarium argues that housing these belugas, or white whales, would in fact protect them. Additionally, aquarium officials are asking that the NOAA hand over the documents refuting their request for rights to the mammals.

"If they're going to change their minds, we're entitled to look at why," aquarium attorney Daniel Diffley told Reuters. "We believe the decision is arbitrary."

According to Diffley, plans for acquiring the whales were going smoothly until March 2013 when the NOAA suddenly refused to give permission for the transaction.

Ethan Eddy, an attorney with the Department of Justice representing NOAA, told the court that the memos and emails are protected discussions among staffers about the merits of the permit request.

"What we're hearing is a lot of innuendo, that there might be a bad motive behind this," Eddy told the court, according to Reuters. He also raised concerns as to whether or not all the whales were captured in a humane way, as required by law.

Beluga whales - which run from 13 to 20 feet long - are common in the Arctic Ocean's coastal waters, according to National Geographic. In the United States, these 3,000-pound mammals are strictly found in Alaska among five different populations: Cook Inlet, Bristol Bay, Eastern Bering Sea, Eastern Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea.

Of those, the Cook Inlet is the only endangered population, the NOAA reports, with numbers estimated to be around 325 whales. Increased human activity has mostly led to their depletion, for example shipping, pollution and habitat destruction and alteration.

If these whales are allowed into the Georgia Aquarium, they would join the four belugas that currently reside there or go to other approved marine sites.