Reaching out: conservation activities at the National Aquarium in Baltimore

Abstract

The contribution of public aquariums to conservation has been largely in the field of education but while this may have a direct impact where the aquarium displays local wildlife, it is less immediate where exhibits are international in character. The National Aquarium in Baltimore has developed a number of conservation activities linking the Aquarium's displays to natural habitats. The neotropical rain‐forest exhibit is associated with Costa Rica, and fund‐raising, ‘adoption’ of the national zoo and cooperation with conservation projects are linked with the exhibit. The Aquarium works with the National Marine Fisheries Service programme for the rescue and rehabilitation of stranded marine mammals. It has also launched a coral reef conservation programme to coincide with the reopening of its Atlantic Coral Reef exhibit.