Vancouver Aquarium makes deal to stay in city’s Stanley Park for 35 years

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Aquarium will remain in the city’s Stanley Park for another 35 years under a new agreement it has reached with the parks board.

Lasse Gustavsson, CEO of aquarium operator Ocean Wise, says the agreement provides the foundation for its five-year strategic plan with a focus on conservation and public education.

The aquarium has been in the park since 1956.

It has been locked in a legal battle over the board’s ban on whales and dolphins at the facility, but Ocean Wise says in a statement that it has dropped the legal action.

It says the lease agreement confirms a commitment it made last year to no longer display cetaceans.

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The organization says it will also continue to invest in research programs, which have contributed to global knowledge of marine wildlife.

“Ocean Wise aspires to become a global ocean conservation organization and wants to inspire people in every corner of the planet to participate in creating healthy oceans, but for most people the ocean is ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ ” says Gustavsson.

“There are many threats to the ocean, but the greatest threat is that many believe someone else is going to save it. Ocean Wise has an important role to bring the ocean to the people and the people to the ocean, and the Vancouver Aquarium is one of the best tools we have to do that.”

The Canadian Press