Fish Story

The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans is back in business. 

The Aquarium has been closed ever since Hurricane Katrina.  One might think that of all things, an aquarium would be least vulnerable to a flood.  I mean, it's full of fish, right?  And fish like water, right?  So what's the problem?

The problem wasn't the flooding, or damage from the storm itself.  The Aquarium is on high ground, and the building came through Katrina virtually unharmed.  What wiped out nearly the entire collection of fish was the loss of electrical power and failure of the giant filtering systems.  No electricity also meant no air conditioning, which meant temperatures inside the building soared.

With the Aquarium staff all evacuated, there was nobody to keep backup generators running or repair problems.  The Aquarium curators were able to evacuate the penguins, the white alligator, some rare seadragons, and the otters.  The fish remained in their tanks, and died.  (When you don't have a lot of time or resources it's a lot easier to move an air-breathing animal, even if it's a disgruntled alligator, than it is to move a fish, let alone a whole tank of fish.)

The Aquarium reopened for the first time on Friday, May 26.  A crack team of Science Made Cool field reporters toured the place May 28 and were very impressed.  "I saw the sharks.  The sharks were big fish," said our crack 3-year old field reporter.

The crack 10-year old field reporter has this to say:  "If you go, bring cameras and kids!"

The rescued animals are all back home, and the fish collection has been completely replaced.  The reef tank is as dazzling as ever, the penguins just as cute, and the Amazon river fish just as alarming.  The Aquarium's showpiece, the giant ocean tank, has been completely restocked with sharks, turtles, rays, tarpon, and dozens of other species.  A visitor might never know that anything had happened to the Aquarium's collection.  The restoration is that good. 

At this point someone is likely to ask, "why spend all that money on a bunch of fish when half the city still needs rebuilding?"  Here's why:  tourism is the city's chief industry, and before the storm the Aquarium pulled in a million visitors a year.  Along with its sister institution the Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium is one of the city's economic locomotives.  Reopening the Aquarium helps get the city's economy running again, and you can't rebuild a city if there are no jobs.