One of the debates in aquaculture that remains unresolved is the question of whether species which, by nature, roam several kilometres a day, or migrate ever greater distances between seasons, have an intrinsic need to do so, or whether they simply do this in order to find food and species-appropriate conditions such as temperature, oxygen, substrate, etc. If the latter is true, do they feel well when farmed within a limited area, provided they are supplied with food and the appropriate conditions? To find this out, one would have to conduct choice experiments in very large tanks offering different conditions – which would involve unprecedented costs and has therefore never been carried out. A tiny population of humpback whales, threatened with extinction, might – or might not – provide a small clue.