GEORGIA STRAIGHT NEWS Park board set to vote on measures that could lead to an end to cetacean captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium Over the years, No Whales in Captivity has faced off in heated debates with members of the Vancouver park board. For longer than a decade, the group of B.C. activists led by Annelise Sorg has lobbied for an end to whale and dolphin captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium. Meanwhile, he park board has usually backed the Aquarium's decision to continue to house cetaceans in tanks in Stanley Park. But Sorg and other No Whales in Captivity members will be in attendance at tonight's park board meeting (January 23) to show their support for a motion that commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung will bring forward that could eventually end cetacean captivity in Vancouver. "There are many concerns we have (with the motion." Sorg told the Straight. "But I'm delighted this issue is finally in front of the park board again - because we have gone through this before. We think that right now, there is the political will to pass this motion tonight. And, hopefully, the Vancouver Aquarium will react favourably to the request from the park board." If it's passed, the motion would see the park board support the City of Vancouver placing a nonbinding plebiscite on the ballot for the 2018 municipal election "to determine if Vancouver residents support keeping cetaceans at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre". It would also see the park board ask the aquarium to "consider not bringing cetaceans into the facility until after the results of the 2018 plebiscite are received". Sorg emphasized that the motion is far from perfect. "It does push it two years down the road," she said. "And, of course, the Vancouver Aquarium is going to spend bazillions of dollars on trying to convince the public that their whales are happy and healthy. But we don't need to battle them. The information is out there." Sorg also stressed she would have preferred a motion that actually places immediate restrictions on the aquarium rather than simply suggesting them. "We are concerned that the Vancouver park board is not saying it cannot bring any more whales and dolphins into Stanley Park," she said. "They are actually only asking the aquarium to consider doing that. And so we are asking the park board, what will you do if the aquarium says no?" In April 2014, the Straight reported that Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson believes that the Vancouver Aquarium should no longer keep whales and dolphins at its facility in Stanley Park. "My personal view is that the Vancouver Aquarium should begin to phase out the holding of whales and dolphins in captivity," Robertson said in a statement. "I'm hopeful that the Aquarium and the Park Board can work collaboratively and come to an agreement on how to achieve this with a dialogue and review that will be informed, thoughtful, and inclusive." Today's park board motion notes that two beluga whales named Aurora and Qila died in Stanley Park in November 2016. In fact, those deaths were only the latest in a string of unfortunate incidents to strike animals associated with the Vancouver Aquarium. In August 2016, a harbour porpoise named Jack passed away. In July of 2015, a beluga whale whose father is owned by the Vancouver Aquarium died at a SeaWorld facility in San Antonia, Texas. The calf was just three weeks old. CLICK ON LINK TO READ MORE