National Aquarium in Washington DC

jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I received the following email today from the National Aquarium in DC:

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Dear Jon,

As members of our National Aquarium family, I want to share important news with you about the future of our aquarium in Washington, DC. Due to renovations to the Department of Commerce building, the National Aquarium, Washington, DC, will be closing on September 30, 2013.

The September 30 closing date allows the National Aquarium to meet the General Service Administration's deadline to vacate the space using a timeline that accommodates our main priority: the needs of our animals and our staff. Our collection of more than 1,500 animals will be transitioned to new homes at our Baltimore facility, our Animal Care Center or other accredited aquariums. We have also implemented several support initiatives for our DC employees.

We are committed to a continued presence in the capital, where a public aquarium has existed since the late 1800s. I am working with a task force of National Aquarium Board members to explore opportunities and funding options that would support this goal. The DC closure will not impact the operation of the National Aquarium, Baltimore.

I hope you will find the time to visit and experience the National Aquarium, Washington, DC, in the coming months before its closing. Your membership with the National Aquarium is essential to us as we live our mission to inspire conservation of the world's aquatic treasures, and we thank you for your continued support.

Our membership team is happy to address any of your questions or concerns. You can contact them via phone at 410-659-4230 or email at members@aqua.org.

Warm regards,
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John Racanelli
CEO, National Aquarium
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Andrewtfw

Andrewtfw

Global Moderators
I am glad they have secured homes for the animals. I am hopeful that they are able to secure another DC location in the near future.
 
MHMoro

MHMoro

CCA Members
Closing for renovations? I hope is not another victim of the sequestration.........

Manuel
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
I was a volunteer at the National Aquarium in DC for a number of years. The plan was to open a new aquarium in the same building on the mall end and close the current one which is in the basement. It was to open in 2007, then 2010 then mid 2013. During these years they were trying to generate funding for the construction. I even got to see some of the design plans in 2006. And the mall end of the Commerce building was vacated in 2007 so that portion of the building was empty and even had some spare aquarium equipment stored in it.

I believe they never succeeded in getting enough money to start construction. Perhaps though they were preempted by some other need for the space.

Actually I would love to see and would support a stand alone public aquarium somewhere in DC like maybe down near the marina.

BTW there is another aquarium in DC in the Anacostia part. It is small and has mainly native fishes but some really nice specimens, at least a few years ago.

Frank
 
blkmjk

blkmjk

Members
I would love a tour! I've only been there twice but it is definitely a super cool place. Sucks it's closing. It's not very well advertised and it's no wonder why they won't be able to set up somewhere else quickly. Wish there was more we could do. Good news is that the Baltimore aquarium could use that huge arrowana in their display.

What are they going to do with all of the equipment I wonder? If they need help moving or anything I would be willing to help volunteer. Not sure how out who to convey that to....

Drew

NO GOOD DEED SHALL GO UNPUNISHED!
 
Avatar

Avatar

Plenipotentiary-at-large
Well

jonclark96 said:
Anyone willing to do the leg work to see if we can get a tour?
Click to expand...

I could attempt to contact Mr. Racanelli to test the waters. Inclined to do that do this on behalf of the combined memberships of CCA, PVAS and GWAPA but perhaps such expansiveness is premature.
 
Tony

Tony

Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
blkmjk said:
What are they going to do with all of the equipment I wonder? If they need help moving or anything I would be willing to help volunteer. Not sure how out who to convey that to....
Click to expand...

+1.
 
hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
It's a great idea. I"d definitely want to go. We should see if they have a maximum group level and test CCA interest before expanding too much . ..
 
Jeff721

Jeff721

Members
I got in touch with Mr. Lin who is the operations director at the aquarium and reached out in regards to a visit including a behind the scenes tour. He noted that the facility isn`t really set up for that. But he seems to be open to doing something for the club - he is a WAMAS member. I/we would need to get an aproximate number of folks that could commit to going.

Being a terrible event planner and not involved with any higher-ups at CCA I am probbly not the best person to put this together, I would like to go and figured that I could bridge the gap and reach out. Tony?
 
C

cjw

Members
Thanks for all the concern guys. We're certainly sad to see it go, those who know what that place had been and what it has become know this is a huge loss. We all knew the place would be closed, but we were hoping to have the new (magnificently large) space to move into by then. I'm the one working with the tropical FW/Herp stuff there now and will be staying to the very end to make sure all the animals are given proper homes (I may cry when we pack up my aro). We certainly have our haters but I have never been involved with a group that cares so much about the well being of every animal in our care and the lessons they have to teach us. The staff here has been constantly improving every aspect of the place (within the confines of a 90 year old building) more than most would realize.
Larger more organized tours will be tricky as backup spaces are fairly cramped, but Mr. Lin would be the man for that. A "max group size" will have a similar answer to "minimum tank size" in this setting unfortunately. I would be more than happy with smaller informal groups, just please don't mob me :)
It was great to have a truly conservation based, non profit aquarium with a strong education focus in that space, but many will never see the value present in this concept. I remain hopeful that a (tasteful) aquarium will be in dc again, and all of our staff are quite committed to doing anything we can to bring one back.
 
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