Aquarium of the Pacific
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| Aquarium of the Pacific | |
| Date opened | 1998 |
| Location | Long Beach, California, USA |
| Number of Animals | 12,500 |
| Number of Species | 650 |
| Accreditations/ Memberships |
AZA |
| Website | |
The Aquarium of the Pacific is located in the city of Long Beach, California at the mouth of the Los Angeles River. The aquarium features a collection of over 12,500 animals representing over 650 different species. The facility focuses on the Pacific Ocean in three major permanent galleries, Southern California and Baja, Northern Pacific and Tropical Pacific.
The aquarium was designed as a joint venture of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassanbaum and Esherick Homsey Dodge & Davis. Construction began in 1995 and the 156,735 square foot (14,560 m³) aquarium opened in 1998. Since the aquarium is built on a site created through land reclamation in an area prone to earthquakes the facility is built on top of 1,800 cement pilings which each extend 85 feet into the ground and are surrounded by gravel. The facility filters about 900,000 gallons (3.4 million liters) of salt water per hour, the capacity of all the exhibits totals about 1,100,000 gallons (4.2 million liters).
The aquarium is a non-profit institution whose mission is, “To instill a sense of wonder, respect and stewardship for the Pacific Ocean, its inhabitants and ecosystems.” The facility and the debt incurred to build it are actually owned by the City of Long Beach with operations provided by SMG, a nationwide property management company. The non-profit institution has an agreement with the City to operate the facility through 2060. The aquarium is an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited facility.
About 1.4 million people visit the aquarium each year; over 190,000 of those are school age children. The aquarium has a volunteer staff of over 600 people who work in all departments, including education, administration, husbandry and scuba diving staff.
The aquarium also pays for and helps staff the science department for downtown Long Beach’s Cesar Chavez Elementary School. In the spring of 2006 the aquarium staff provided 24 science lessons to the classes at the school.
The aquarium is one of only two facilities in the world to successfully breed Weedy Sea Dragons in captivity.
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