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VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Aquarium is suing the city and park board over the 2017 cetacean ban for breach of contract and claiming it lost millions of dollars in revenue.

In May 2017 the Vancouver’s park board voted 6 to 1 to approve a bylaw banning whales, dolphins and porpoises in captivity.

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The bylaw went into effect immediately, preventing the Vancouver Aquarium from bringing new cetaceans to its facility in Stanley Park.

In the civil claim filed May 14, the Vancouver Aquarium states attendance has dropped in the last two years, adding the bylaw has interfered with the aquarium’s “ability to carry out day-to-day administration” of the Marine Science Centre.

“Compared to 2016, attendance at the Marine Science Centre in both 2017 and 2018 has declined by approximately 13 per cent,” the aquarium says in the claim.

“Based on 2016 admission rates, this decline in attendance equates to a loss of approximately $4 million in revenues for each of 2017 and 2018.”