Park board seeks ‘alternatives’ to whale referendum

Directs staff to come up with Plan B on whales, dolphins at aquarium

A decision by the Vancouver park board to ask its staff for “alternatives” to a referendum on the future of whales and dolphins at the Vancouver Aquarium could mean that the board will act on the issue sooner than the 2018 civic election.

The still-unexplained deaths last November of the remaining two belugas at the aquarium have created “a different environment” on the issue of cetaceans in captivity, board chairman Michael Wiebe said Tuesday.

“The appetite really seems to be stronger than just (for) a plebiscite,” the Green party’s Wiebe said.

His comments followed a raucous Monday night meeting, wherein NPA commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung had moved that the board ask residents in a plebiscite whether they support keeping cetaceans at the aquarium.

“We wanted to hear from residents as a whole,” she said of her referendum motion.

“At park board meetings we get sometimes a smattering of people who come out who have the time and the ability, and it’s not necessarily representative of the city.”

Such a plebiscite would need the approval of Vancouver city council to be put on the next civic ballot, and wouldn’t be binding on the next board.

Wiebe joined with other board members to support a motion from Vision’s Catherine Evans, that park staff come back with more immediate alternatives to a referendum.

“With no whales being here, those alternatives include being a little bit stronger,” Wiebe said Monday.

He said one option is a bylaw to ban cetaceans from Vancouver parks.

The aquarium had gone to court in 2014 to challenge a previous board’s attempt to ban its cetacean breeding program. The aquarium’s 11-page petition argued that the board’s attempt was a violation of its licence agreement, in effect until 2029. The board didn’t pursue the ban on breeding.

Wiebe pointed to an earlier bylaw change in 1996, wherein the park board proposed to bar the aquarium from taking in cetaceans captured in the wild.

In that instance the aquarium voluntarily committed to not participate in the wild capture of cetaceans.

“We’ve already had a precedent doing this,” he said.

“We’ve already done it, and it happened. This was something they did voluntarily, and that is something we’re hoping for here as well. If we’re going to change bylaws, the aquarium needs to have a voice.”

Wiebe said he expected to hold public hearings following the report back from park staff in a month, and added that the board hasn’t ruled out a plebiscite question.

Aquarium CEO John Nightingale didn’t respond to interview requests Tuesday.

In 2006, the park board approved an expansion of the aquarium, for new buildings and larger whale tanks, and to date the aquarium has spent more than $45 million of a planned $100-million budget.

Plans for expanding its whale tanks are on hold, and there are no immediate plans to bring back five belugas currently on loan to U.S. marine parks, a spokesman said.

“Our management team is disappointed with the process by which the park board is yet again to try to appease a small, vocal minority of animal-rights protesters,” read a statement from the aquarium. “Our focus continues to be on the investigation of the passing of the beluga whales.”

The aquarium logged a record 1.2 million visitors last year.

The private, non-profit organization had revenues of more than $37 million in 2015, with 50 per cent of that coming from admissions and memberships, and 30 per cent from retail.