DOLPHIN LAW EVALUATED 

The Coalition For No Whales In Captivity has sought a legal opinion on a 1996 Vancouver park-board bylaw regulating the importation of dolphins into public parks. "The West Coast Environmental Law Association is looking into whether this bylaw is illegal because a municipal government is trying to act as a fisheries agency," coalition director Annelise Sorg told the Straight. Under the Constitution Act 1867, Parliament has sole responsibility for "Sea Coast and Inland Fisheries".

Under the bylaw, the Vancouver Aquarium is allowed to import any captive cetaceans born in captivity caught in the wild prior to September 16, 1996.

At the March 26 park-board meeting, Non-partisan Association chair Laura McDiarmid introduced a notice of motion seeking assurances from the VAncouver Aquarium that if it brings in new marine mammals, this will not result in others being captured from the wild. McDiarmid's motion, which was to be discussed at the April 9 meeting, was revoked two days later. She did not return a call to explain why.

The board has instead scheduled a private meeting with aquarium officials on April 12 to discuss future plans.

Sorg said McDiarmid told her she had received personal assurances from Vancouver Aquarium president John Nightingale that the 1996 bylaw would be obeyed. However, the NPA majority has not indicated if the aquarium is required to file public documents in advance to importing dolphins, which would give the opponents time to investigate claims about the animals' origins.

Sorg said that the bylaw is unenforceable because the board can't verify when dolphins were caught - a claim that Nightingale has rejected.

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