Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk
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The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk (formerly Maritime Center) is located in Norwalk, Connecticut (in the SoNo neighborhood).
The Maritime Aquarium has seals, river otters, steely sharks, jellyfish, loggerhead turtles, and hundreds of other animals living in recreations of their natural Long Island Sound habitats. There are two touch tanks. Crabs, sea stars and other fun coastal creatures are the focus of the first; smooth stingrays in the other. The aquarium also has a six-story-tall IMAX Theater. The Aquarium features educational programs, year-round study cruises, special exhibits, and fun simulator/adventure rides.
In recent years the Maritime Aquarium has emphasized helping visitors understand the ecology of Long Island Sound and its watershed. The Aquarium participates in or directs local scientific research on Long Island Sound's residents, such as horseshoe crabs and harbor seals. In 2006 the Aquarium became a partner in SeafoodWatch, a program that encourages consumers to make responsible seafood choices that have a low impact on the environment.
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[edit] Attendance
Annual attendance averages 500,000 visitors, with about 100,000 of them[1] from New York state. The Maritime Aquarium contributes approximately $20 million to Norwalk's economy every year; the state-wide impact is almost $42 million.
The aquarium's budget for 2006-2007 fiscal year amounted to about $10 million. About $4 million came in from admissions and another $5 million from educational programming fees, the gift shop, catering, business dinners and other events and donations. The state gave it a grant of $675,000 to promote tourism.[1]
Attendance in 2005-2006 slumped a bit, resulting in a loss of $30,000 in expected admissions revenues. The reason is partly because more teachers were keeping students in school to prepare for state tests as a result of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act, which is hurting aquarium attendance nationwide, according to Marcia Bittner, the aquarium's marketing director. The aquarium also had fewer visitors in the summer of 2006 because its main attraction, a white alligator, had been there the year before. In the fall, attendance was hurt by unusually warm weather, she said.[1]
[edit] History
The "Maritime Center" opened July 16, 1988. The name was changed to the "Maritime Aquarium" in 1996 to stress the live animals featured there.
The cultural section of the Aquarium originally explored boat building and human exploration of the sea, but the boat-building activities were eliminated in early 2007. In the last seven years of its 19-year run, the boat-building program helped people construct about 500 boats and 20,000 children took part in classes that created more than 5,000 model boats, but aquarium officials said the shop only served 3 to 5 percent of patrons.[2]
The boat-building shop was replaced with a new Marine Lab with baby seahorses and jellyfish (and other animals new to the Aquarium), as well as information on aquaculture, sustainable seafood, and responsible home aquarium keeping.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Stelloh, Tom, "Norwalk aquarium admissions slumping: Officials blame warm October, November", news article in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, Norwalk edition, February 24, 2007, page A3
- ^ DeLoma, Jamie, "Setting sale: Aquarium to auction the last handmade boats from its shop", news article in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, Norwalk Edition, April 27, 2007
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