A VISIT TO THE FAMOUS VANCOUVER AQUARIUM

by Jacqui Birchall
(click images to enlarge)

A visit to the Vancouver Aquarium is a treat. A tour with the charming and knowledgeable Executive Director, Clint Wright, is a privilege I was recently afforded.

Wright, originally from England’s coastal town, Clacton-on-Sea, has dedicated more than 30 years to the Vancouver Aquarium.

Wright was originally headhunted from the U.K. because of his marine mammal training expertise. He arrived at the aquarium with a three-month work visa. The fit was so perfect, that the aquarium worked hard to ensure Wright’s continued employment.

Wright was impressed by the scientists, the researchers, the rescuers, and the aquarium’s iconic status.

**SPRINGER’S CARE TEAM - COLIN WRIGHT IN BLUE ON THE RIGHT.** *(VANCOUVER AQUARIUM PHOTO.*

Remember Springer (officially called A-73), the two-year-old killer whale, found alone and in poor health in a busy shipping channel near Seattle. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans appointed the Vancouver Aquarium with Wright as the operational lead to transport and relocate the calf back to Canadian waters. The first and only time such a translocation has been attempted with a killer whale.

The calf was nursed back to health in Seattle, and she was later transported to Canadian waters, specifically to a net pen in Dong Chong Bay on Hanson Island off the East coast of Vancouver Island, chosen because her pod was known to frequent the area.

Wright explained how, with a stroke of amazing good fortune, in the middle of the very first night they arrived Springer began to swim excitedly around her ocean pen and to vocalize. Scientists monitoring underwater calls realized her pod was close by. The following day the pod again returned, and Springer was released from the pen to join them. With pressures on wild killer whale populations ever increasing it is comforting to know that this proactive intervention has ultimately been very successful. Today Springer has had two calves of her own and is still with her pod.

The Vancouver Aquarium opened to huge crowds in 1956. It was the first public aquarium in Canada.

In 1975 it became the first aquarium accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and then by Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums. In 1987, the Canadian Federal Government designated it as Canada’s Pacific National Aquarium. In 2016, the Vancouver Aquarium became one of the first in the world to achieve Humane Certification from American Humane, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping to ensure animals' safety, welfare and well-being.

The Vancouver Aquarium evolved into a nonprofit organization dedicated to conservation initiatives and excellence in marine animal welfare.

The Vancouver Aquarium became known for its history of rescuing marine mammals along the BC coast, through the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.

The Vancouver Aquarium states that “The Vancouver Aquarium is internationally recognized for display and interpretative excellence, and was the first facility to incorporate professional naturalists and interpretive specialists into galleries to explain animal behaviours. We are internationally recognized for our successful Marine Mammal Rescue Program. Innovative programming and superlative animal care have seen the Aquarium held in high esteem year after year.

The Aquarium went through a succession of upgrades over the last two decades with the addition of an Education Centre, and a new and enlarged front entrance. The entrance, once rather buried, now announces arrival at one of the world’s favourite aquariums and is graced by Bill Reid’s relocated 5.5 metre tall, bronze Killer Whale, Chief of the Undersea World, a gift to the Vancouver Aquarium.

COVID brought hard times and almost the end of the Aquarium. Visitors’ entry fees funded the Aquarium and even with additional financial aid and public donations the Covid restrictions proved too much, the money dried up. Wright describes how they needed to unwillingly lay off many of the talented but non-essential workers — 300 reduced to 90 — leaving only those needed to care for the inhabitants. Even with the skeleton crew and turning off all the heat and lights the monthly running costs of feeding and caring for the inhabitants ran around one million dollars.

Much was on the line. The years of research, the conservation work, the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre. Hearts were heavy, the Ocean Wise Board put out feelers for a new operator of the Aquarium. In 2021 Herschend Enterprises, a successful 70-year privately owned tourism company based in the U.S. was announced as the new owner of the Aquarium.

Clint Wright was asked to continue his long association with the Aquarium in the role of executive director and was asked to choose a team. Over 100 came back from the previous incarnation of the Vancouver Aquarium and Wright adds, today’s entire team is amazing.

Herschend brings resources and expertise and the funds the Aquarium has never had before he adds.

Funds for operations were always a problem when the aquarium was run as a non-profit. Money was often spent on stretching the dollars for conservation initiatives while building repairs, particularly behind-the scenes, often took a back seat.

Large reservoirs under the aquarium hold the much-needed seawater. Over the years, saltwater has penetrated areas of the concrete and impacted the metal rebar. As a non-profit, there was always healthy tension between conservation work and the physical aquarium. Now, under the new ownership funding has been identified to address much of this deferred maintenance, one reservoir was recently repaired for one million dollars. 1200 gallons of seawater a minute can be pumped into these reservoirs.

Great care is now being taken of the building.

**THEY’RE CALLED “JELLIES” NOT JELLYFISH!** *(JACQUI BIRCHALL PHOTO)*

Wright shares that the Herschend family treats their employees extremely well, they are in the people business and that begins with their own and demonstrate that through leading with love. They are world-renowned for the hospitality shown by their hosts toward their guests and have a mission to bring families closer together to create memories worth repeating.

After the decline during the pandemic years, 2023 saw a record number of visitors.

Wright shared the sad story of amphibians, the most vulnerable vertebrates in the world, threatened by disease and habitat loss. There is a worldwide fungus affecting frogs to such a degree Wright explained it threatens to result in the greatest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs. The aquarium focuses on two local species the Oregon Spotted Frog and the Northern Leopard Frog that are both listed as endangered in BC.

The Oregon Spotted Frog lives in wetlands, lakes and slow-moving streams.

The Northern Leopard Frogs can be found in permanent ponds, swamps, marshes and slow-moving streams in forests, open and urban areas.

**BILL REID’S “KILLER WHALE” CARVED IN 1982.** *(JACQUI BIRCHALL PHOTO)*

The aquarium works to breed these frogs at their facilities and then reintroduce them back into natural areas where they are in decline.

Steller sea lions are another focus of the aquarium. The largest of the sea lions, an adult male can weigh over 1,100 kilos, they are listed as endangered in parts of their range. The aquarium has partnered with the University of British Columbia and a consortium of other universities since 1993 providing expert animal management support to research into their decline in the wild. One part of the study led to the discovery that a change in the availability of certain fish could greatly impact the health of the sea lions. Animals fed pollack instead of their normal diet of the more nutritious herring lost weight, even if allowed to eat as much as they wished.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans works with the Vancouver Aquarium to rescue sea lions along the coast and to remove entangled in fishing gear and plastics. Led by the aquarium’s Director of Animal Health and veterinarian Dr. Martin Haulena as he is one of the few veterinarians in the world who has extensive experience in successfully immobilizing sea lions with an anesthetic drug delivered by a dart.

**ONE OF MANY INFORMATION PANELS AMONG THE AQUARIUM EXHIITS.** *(JACQUI BIRCHALL PHOTO)*

The Ocean Wise Conservation Association, which previously ran the aquarium, is still a voice that can be heard in the Aquarium through various onsite displays and graphics. A global conservation organization on a mission to build communities that will take meaningful action to protect and restore our oceans, Ocean Wise shares its whale sightings, its mission to abolish plastic straws, to promote sustainable seafood, and to educate how microfibres in our clothes affect our oceans. The Vancouver Aquarium still contributes 1% of gross revenues every year to the conservation work conducted by Ocean Wise.

Touring the Vancouver Aquarium with Wright it is obvious he is an admired and respected leader.

A visit to the Vancouver Aquarium is visually and educationally satisfying.

The many jellies are beautiful, the False Water Cobra eerily beguiling, and the sea otters and seals a favourite. (The rambunctious rock-toting sea otters recently managed to fracture a safety window in their enclosure – despite the lamination of the tempered glass.) Brando, the giant octopus is a favourite. Such beauty!

If you haven’t visited the Vancouver Aquarium there is so much to describe. The Treasures of the BC Coast is very popular. Here in various displays, one can view what lives below the surface in various parts of BC. The Tropics Gallery houses tropical fish including sharks, the Amazon Rain Forest where one can observe monkeys, sloths, bats, freshwater fish and experience a tropical rainstorm, the Frogs Forever gallery, the jellies exhibit, the wet-lab education room, and so much more.

**DID YOU KNOW?** *(JACQUI BIRCHALL PHOTO)*

As I approached the cobra tank, a huge False Water Cobra rose above the water in front of me. Wow, I gasped, how beautiful. A woman turned to me with a look of horror on her face. It’s all about the glass I explained.

The aquarium supports schools with education programs onsite. There is a board room that is available for organizations to enjoy (the views and tranquility are amazing.) Catering is available in the boardroom and participants can spend time in the aquarium.

Other stunning spaces and catering are available for a variety of corporate and private events.

Buy a membership and during summer hours, June 22 to Sep 2, the Aquarium offers members-only Rise and Shine Membership mornings between 8 a.m. and 9.30 before the Aquarium opens to the general public. Special breakfasts are also available. Student and senior memberships start at $70 annually. Parking is magically plentiful at this time! A time when members can experience the aquarium without its many visitors.

There are volunteer opportunities at the aquarium and the aquarium supports neurodivergent communities through work experience.

The Aquarium supports community events, the BC Professional Firefighters Burn Fund has benefited for the last two years with a day at the aquarium where the day’s ticket sales were donated to the fund.

**BRANDO THE OCTOPUS.** *(JACQUI BIRCHALL PHOTO)*

The Vancouver Aquarium has a strong philosophy of sustainability. Their gift shop offers guests earth-friendly choices, their goods are researched for sustainability. There is a washing machine display that shows what happens when you wash clothes, polyester for instance, and how the microplastics from these clothes enter our oceans. The toilets are low water use with conserved rainwater harvesting systems rather than using fresh water. They employ energy-efficient heat systems, the pumped sea water becomes a cooling system, the ventilation system uses convection, a natural process to improve air quality.

The Vancouver Aquarium continues to be dedicated to the rescue of marine mammals supporting the newly established Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society, VAMMR, whose mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release marine mammals in distress. I was privileged to tour this facility too. Tune in to our September issue for the story.

The Vancouver Aquarium is a must-go destination, a research facility Vancouverites should be very proud of.

You can find more information about the Vancouver Aquarium, and take out a membership here.