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The Vancouver Aquarium has reached a new lease agreement with the Vancouver park board that will allow the aquarium to remain in Stanley Park for the next 35 years.

The agreement confirms a 2018 commitment from Ocean Wise, the aquarium’s parent company, that it will no longer display cetaceans — whales and dolphins — at the facility.

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Lasse Gustavsson is CEO and president of Ocean Wise, having stepped into the role in February of this year.

He notes the new lease, which replaces the current lease that was set to expire in 2029, will allow the organization to plan for the future, renew its long-term goal of marine conservation and reset a fraught relationship between the organization and the park board.

“I’ve been an environmentalist for 40 years, I’m not afraid of conflict — but I didn’t come here to make enemies, I came here to make friends,” he said, adding that while the tensions between the aquarium and the park board have been “unfortunate,” he didn’t hit any road blocks when he reached out to the park board to discuss the possibility of a new lease.