A cetacean timeline at the Vancouver Aquarium

1953:

Park Board is established as an elected board under the Vancouver Charter.

1956:

The Vancouver Aquarium opens. It’s the first public aquarium in Canada.

1964:

Moby Doll is the first orca put on public display after a failed attempt to kill the orca for use as a model for a sculpture to be featured at the Marine Science Centre.

1967:

The Vancouver Aquarium purchased Skana from the Seattle Aquarium and acquires Hyak to keep her company. The SPCA responds by speaking out against keeping whales in captivity.

1970:

Six narwhals are captured in the Arctic and brought to the aquarium. All of them soon died.

1976:

Beluga whale named Bela dies. A beluga calf — Tuaq — is born a year later and dies of infection within four months.

1981:

Orcas Bjossa, Vigga and Finna are captured off Iceland and brought to the aquarium.

1995:

Qila was the first beluga conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium to Aurora and Nanuq. Aurora had been captured near Churchill, MB., in 1990 and died in 2012. Nanuq was on a breeding loan from another aquarium and died in 2015 of a jaw infection.

1996:

Vancouver Aquarium becomes the first aquarium in the world to commit to no longer capturing cetaceans for display.

1999:

The Park Board signs a licence agreement with the Vancouver Aquarium saying it would not bring in, keep or maintain any cetaceans that were captured or taken from the wild. The exceptions were for those caught before Sept. 16, 1996, born in captivity, cetaceans already kept or maintained there and endangered or injured cetaceans.

2000:

The last orca, Bjossa, is removed from public display and shipped to SeaWorld, where she died in 2001 due to chronic respiratory illness.

2002: Tuvaq, a second beluga, is born at the aquarium but unexpectedly died within three years.

2005: The aquarium begins planning a $100-million expansion that would have beluga whales and dolphins as its centrepiece. Over six months, it hears from more than 4,000 Vancouver residents with 89 per cent approving of the expansion. 2006: Park Board approves the concept plan. 2007: Park Board approves the development permit for the expansion. 2009: The licence agreement is amended to reflect the expansion plans. At the time, there were six beluga whales, three Pacific white-sided dolphins and one harbour porpoise. 2011: The Park Board and aquarium agree to reduce the size of the expansion, but the size of the larger pools for dolphins and belugas is left unchanged.

2012: The federal government commits $15 million to the expansion including “larger and deeper pools ... for whales and dolphins,” while the B.C. government commits up to $10 million to the project. 2014: The first phase of the expansion is completed, with second phase construction scheduled to start in the fall of 2017, with completion in 2019. April 2014: Park Board approves a motion to review captive cetaceans in Stanley Park and subsequently hires wildlife veterinarian Joseph Gaydos to review the aquarium’s cetacean conservation program.

July 2014: A motion proposed by Aaron Jasper, chair of the Park Board, is unanimously passed calling for a ban on breeding captive cetaceans unless “the captive cetacean is a threatened species.” November 2016: Two resident beluga whales die within a nine-day period. February 20, 2017: In response to Park Board concerns, the Vancouver Aquarium says it would be willing to phase out the display of beluga whales by the end of 2029.

May 15, 2017: In a 6-1 vote, the Park Board amends its bylaw prohibiting any more cetaceans being brought into the park after that date. At the time, there are three cetaceans — Helen, a whitesided dolphin with partly amputated pectoral fins; Daisy, an orphaned Pacific harbour porpoise that was rescued; and, Chester, a rescued false killer whale, still at the aquarium. But the aquarium has five belugas on loan to other aquariums. June 2017: Daisy, the rescued harbour porpoise, dies. Preliminary necropsy results indicates that she had pulmonary disease. June 8, 2017: The aquarium’s operations are rebranded as Ocean Wise, the name of the aquarium’s sustainable seafood program, and a new website opens. November 2017: Chester, the false killer whale, dies. Subsequent necropsy results suggest that he died from a bacterial infection.

December 2017: Using the DNA from the two resident beluga whales that died in 2016, researchers at the B.C. Cancer Genome Sciences Centre are able to sequence the beluga genome for the first time. January 2018: CEO John Nightingale announces that in the future, the aquarium will no longer house whales, dolphins or porpoises.