THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060660
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Final plans are being drawn for the expansion of the North Carolina Aquarium that will more than double the size of the 20-year-old facility and dramatically improve exhibit areas.
Focused on ``Waters of the Outer Banks,'' the revamped aquarium on Roanoke Island will draw visitors into a tour of the habitats and aquatic life native to the region, beginning at the Alligator River and continuing through the freshwater and saltwater marshes to the offshore waters.
A half-round tunnel will provide visitors with a view into ``Life in the Graveyard of the Atlantic,'' a 185,000-gallon open ocean tank stocked with sharks, rays, sea turtles, groupers and other native species.
Rhett White, the aquarium's director, said preliminary design drawings were recently submitted to the state for review, and the third phase in the project - creation of detailed construction drawings and exhibit designs - has begun.
Plans for the expansion have been in the works since 1994, but a wrench was thrown into the project last year when a legislator questioned the necessity for three separate aquariums in the state and asked that a study be done to determine if they could be merged. During the last legislative session, lawmakers softened a a provision requiring the study. But aquarium officials decided it was important to resolve the question.
``It was actually a very good question,'' Neal Conoly, interim director of North Carolina Aquariums, said Tuesday from his Raleigh office. ``It never hurts to reevaluate and assess the situation.''
The state appropriated $1.3 million in 1994 and $1.2 million in 1995 for preliminary design work for the facilities, Conoly said.
He added that he is ``optimistic'' that funds will also be forthcoming for construction costs. The aquariums will ask for $10 million in the governor's budget this year for Roanoke Island construction, and $20 million next year for the other two facilities.
``We've moved along very smoothly in this process,'' Conoly said. ``We feel confident that if the money is available, we will get funding.''
White said the internal report, which will be released within weeks, provides the rationale for the three separate facilities and recommends expansion for each of them. In addition to Roanoke Island, aquariums are also located at Pine Knoll Shores near Atlantic Beach and Fort Fisher near Wilmington.
``Each has year-round visitation and each draws from different populations,'' White said.
Of the 235,000 visitors to the Roanoke Island aquarium in 1995, about 85 percent came from out-of-state, White said. The other aquariums attract more North Carolina residents, he added. Fort Fisher had the largest number of visitors last year.
If everything goes as planned, White said construction at Roanoke Island will begin early in 1997, and be completed by the fall of 1999. The expanded portion is scheduled to open spring 1998. At the same time, the existing facility will be closed while work on new exhibits, renovations and refurbishment is done.
Since the largest tank at the facility is only 8,400 gallons, White said the marine life displayed in the 185,000 tank will be larger, older and more diverse. The young three-to-four-foot sandbar sharks, smooth dogfish sharks and nurse sharks currently or recently on exhibit, if not replaced, will be joined by six-to-seven-foot adult lemon sharks, sand tiger sharks and possibly hammerheads.
``Do the arithmetic and you'll see that the scale of what we are doing is going to be tremendous,'' White said.
The rays, skates and sea turtles will also be much larger, White said, and there will be a greater variety of reptiles and aquatic snakes exhibited. In the fresh water habitat, there will be a display of river otters, and wading birds may be part of the saltwater marsh habitat, White said.
The Roanoke Island Aquarium now totals 34,000 square feet. The proposed facility will be expanded to 71,038 square feet. When completed, an additional eight to 10 full-time employees are expected to be hired. by CNB