Vancouver Aquarium
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The aquarium is run by a self-supporting not-for-profit association. The operation of the aquarium receives no government funding. The property is owned by the City of Vancouver and managed by the City Parks Board.
Aquarium history
The Vancouver Public Aquarium Association was formed in 1950. Officially Canada's first public Aquarium, it opened on June 15 1956.
The Vancouver Aquarium has become the largest in Canada and one of the five largest in North America. The Aquarium is internationally recognized for display and interpretation excellence, and was the first facility to incorporate professional naturalists into the galleries to interpret animal behaviours. Aquarium research projects extend world-wide, and are internationally recognized for marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation.
The Aquarium has been rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing injured marine mammals for more than forty years. The Marine Mammal Rescue Centre has treated more than 2,000 seals, sea lions, elephant seals, otters, dolphins, porpoises, and whales. The program also helped rescue Springer, an orphaned killer whale successfully released and reunited with her family pod. Among other high profile rescues include the successful returning of a beached gray whale back to the water in 2005 and the rescue of Schoona, a lost green sea turtle near Prince Rupert, BC.
In 1975, the Vancouver Aquarium was the first aquarium accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). The Aquarium is also accredited by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) and in 1987 was designated Canada's Pacific National Aquarium by the Canadian Federal Government.
On July 23, 1995, a beluga whale named Qila was born. She was the first beluga to be both conceived and born in a Canadian aquarium. A second calf, Tuvaq, was born on July 30, 2002, but died unexpectedly with no previous sign of illness on July 17, 2005.
In 1996, the Vancouver Aquarium vowed to never again capture cetaceans from the wild, and only obtain cetaceans from other facilities if they too were captured before 1996 (unless a rescue animal).
On June 15, 2006 Canada Post issued a .51 cent domestic rate stamp to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Aquarium.
For many years, the primary attraction for visitors was the orca or killer whale show. When Finna died and Bjossa was left without other orca companions, the aquarium attempted to acquire one of more female orcas from other marine parks. However, no suitable companions were found and Bjossa was moved to Sea World, San Diego. The Aquarium has since moved to emphasize the educational aspects of the displays rather than the public spectacle of the shows. They have also tried to highlight the research and rehabilitation efforts of the staff.
Aquarium facility
The aquarium covers approximately 9000 m² (100,000 ft²) and has a total 9.5 million litres (2.5 million gallons) of water in 166 aquatic displays. There are a number of different galleries:
- Pacific Canada Pavilion is the central indoor tank, 260,000L. Highlighting the marine life from the Strait of Georgia.
- Arctic Canada includes the Beluga whales tank.
- The Wild Coast is an outdoor habitat that includes four Pacific White-sided Dolphins, harbour seals, Steller's Sea Lions, and sea otters.
- Treasures of the BC Coast is a series of separate exhibits that simulate the various environments with sea life found on the BC coast.
- Tropic Zone has a large display of tropical fish, including sharks.
- Amazon rainforest a number of large fresh water fish, snakes and other creatures from the Amazon.
- Discovery Education Centre - coming in Fall 2006
- Canaccord Exploration Gallery - coming in Fall 2006
External links
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