The Vancouver Aquarium could be a facility centred on education, rescue, and true sanctuary exclusively. They have never needed wild-collected, purpose-bred, or dubiously "rescued" animals to achieve this, and yet they still have all of these. They could end their affiliation with self-regulating industry lobby CAZA, and make the crux of their operations to inspire folks everywhere with amazing experiences and interpretations that are free of exploitation. 

The Vancouver Aquarium led the world into for-profit Cetacean captivity with the harpooning of Moby Doll in 1964. With 42 dead cetaceans in a little over a half century since, Ocean Wise was ultimately humbled by municipal and federal level anti-captivity bills. Along the way, they lobbied the governments and sued the Vancouver Park Board who had challenged them with a bylaw. There may no longer be Belugas and Orcas in the cement tanks there, but VA still continues to profit from Cetacean individuals they hold at MarineLand, SeaWorld, Shedd Aquarium, and L'Oceanografic. 

The aquarium can lead the world into a new respectable standard by divesting themselves globally of captive Cetaceans/other Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, wild collected/farmed exotic marine Fish/other individuals, and state their clear intention to focus entirely on education, conservation, and on well considered animal-led rescue.  The main goal for any rescued individual would be release or sanctuary using an outside panel of experts to help make clear, responsible choices based on the animal's needs as the first consideration. 

Thereafter, they could continue to phase out captivity infrastructure and become the global leaders in immersive labs and learning, 4D, 3D, Conservation in the field, and other non-exploitative endeavours. 

With today's announcement all but admitting directly that these are minor enough expenditures that they can be supported without the paying public, it's a perfect and pertinent time for Ocean Wise to move quickly toward transformation informed by compassion. 

Sign this petition and tell OceanWise what you need to see happen!  Tell them to drop ties with self-accrediting industry lobby CAZA, and Oil/Gas/Mining corps that harm the very Oceans they say they advocate for. Tell them to divest from captivity of all species around the world and assist leaders like The Whale Sanctuary Project. Tell them to focus on rescue, release, and carefully considered sanctuary. Tell them that they need to be accountable for Ocean Wise's "seafood" program not being enforceable or traceable. Tell them that they need to be better and that when they re-open, we will be expecting their full, all- encompassing commitment to our Oceans in honourable ways. This is the best opportunity they will ever have to make sweeping changes and preserve the future of the institution's relevance. 

#nomoredeadcaptives
#stopCAZA