Humpback whale “snot” samples gathered by Vancouver Aquarium and NOAA researchers are helping to protect whales in the wild. Humpback whales can be identified at the surface of the ocean by their bushy, two- to three-metre blows, or exhalations. In a joint research project by Vancouver Aquarium’s Coastal Ocean Research Institute and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration […]

These are tough times for our planet. In just 10,000 years, we humans have multiplied exponentially, growing from a population of one million to more than seven billion in a geological blink of an eye. By the year 2100, there could be at least 10 billion of us. This growth is coming at a high […]

By Dr. Valeria Vergara, Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre research scientist “The adults left the calf absolutely alone,” narrated Mathilde Michaud, our drone operator, onboard the research vessel the Bleuvet. When we reviewed the footage that evening this was crystal clear: a newborn beluga calf was left alone for nearly five minutes. It waited at […]

Last week, the federal government followed through on a unanimous 2015 House of Commons motion to ban plastics from personal care products and plastic microbeads have been listed as a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). This significant and important step will ensure that personal care products such as skin care scrubs […]

Can mud samples help us protect killer whales from marine pollution? This is what an important new project developed by the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre’s Coastal Ocean Research Institute aims to achieve. As we call attention to the health of our oceans on Earth Day, we’re excited to introduce PollutionTracker, the first regimented system […]

When a dead killer whale washes up on a beach in British Columbia, the first thing we try to determine — along with why it died in the first place — is who it is. Almost all killer whales that spend time in B.C. waters have been identified and in most cases we know a […]

One year ago, an old military ship got a new lease on life when it was sent to the ocean floor in Howe Sound. On April 4, 2015, the Artificial Reef Society of B.C. used a series of controlled detonations to sink the HMCS Annapolis in Halkett Bay Provincial Marine Park on Gambier Island. The […]

If it’s working well in Norway, maybe it will work well here. That’s what Dr. Shannon Balfry thinks about using “cleaner” fish to control the issue of sea lice at salmon farms off our coast. The head of fish propagation research at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre just returned from the Scandinavian country where […]