COSTA MESA : Largest Aquarium in County Faces Closure

The county’s largest aquarium, the popular but beleaguered 1,000-gallon exhibit at Orange Coast College, is again in danger of closing for lack of funds, school officials said.

A fund-raising goal of $10,000 has been set to meet maintenance costs for the aquarium, which is viewed year-round by a steady parade of area youngsters who get free tours and lectures about the hundreds of specimens collected from nearby waters, said marine biology professor Dennis Kelly.

“We can’t allow it to close,” said Kelly, who oversees the six-tank, salt-water exhibit. “It’s important that the 10,000 children who visit it every year not be deprived of this experience. It helps them better understand and appreciate the local marine environment.”

The 20-year-old tanks, which are maintained and studied by students enrolled in marine biology courses, have had difficult financial times of late. When funding dried up in late 1989, the aquarium was emptied and unused for more than a year.

Last December, money shortages again threatened to close the aquarium, but two last-minute anonymous donations saved the program, Kelly said.

The money collected in the current campaign will go toward maintaining the tanks and their exotic residents, which include swell shark, a mantis shrimp, sea hares, opaleye fish and cabazon.

The chief fund-raising tool at the moment is a raffle, now underway, offering a day of whale watching aboard the Goodyear blimp.

Kelly said Goodyear approached the school and suggested offering the rides as a charity incentive. The raffle winner and four friends will get a tour aboard the blimp, which will cruise offshore for five to six hours following the migrating grey whales. Rides aboard the blimp cannot be purchased; they are only available through charity groups, Kelly said.

The $2 raffle tickets are on sale through March 12, in the accounting office of the campus administration building. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. all weekdays except Friday, when the doors close at 5 p.m.