
DATE: Wednesday, June 18, 1997              TAG: 9706190644

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   85 lines

VIRGINIA MARINE SCIENCE MUSEUM THE VIRGINIA MARINE SCIENCE MUSEUM SAID IT HAS BECOME ONE OF THE TOP TEN AQUARIUMS AND MARINE SCIENCE CENTERS SINCE LAST JUNE, WHEN SEVERAL NEW EXHIBITS, SUCH AS THE NORFOLK CANYON AQUARIUM, AT LEFT, OPENED AS PART OF A $31 MILLION EXPANSION.

The Virginia Marine Science Museum has joined an exclusive club.

One year after opening as a vastly expanded facility, the museum said Tuesday that it has moved onto the list of top 10 aquariums and marine science centers in the nation. That's based on attendance figures obtained from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association for the calendar year 1996.

Since tripling its size with a $31 million expansion that opened last June 15, attendance as of last Saturday, June 14, was 692,000 for the year. This is comfortably ahead of the 650,000 the city was projecting.

Furthermore, the museum continues to break even from an operating standpoint, with revenues of about $5.75 million.

``Pretty amazing, isn't it?'' said Dean Block, the city's director of management services.

The attendance numbers put the 11-year-old museum in contention with other major tourist attractions in the region. Last year, Colonial Williamsburg played host to 939,000 visitors, Busch Gardens to more than 2 million.

In the same time frame, Norfolk's Nauticus and Hampton's Virginia Air and Space Museum attracted 250,000 visitors apiece.

Some Beach leaders were billing the Marine Science Museum as a national-class, if not a world-class, facility.

New attractions included a shark aquarium that resembles a deep ocean canyon, an outdoor harbor seal exhibit, a river otter tank, a nature trail and a three-dimensional IMAX movie theater.

Museum Executive Director C. Mac Rawls said it is this variety, including the museum's high number of interactive displays, that has kept the public interested.

``I don't think there's any place quite like us,'' Rawls said.

Besides its exhibits, the museum has a growing number of science programs, including one of the most active marine stranding programs on the East Coast, as well as dolphin- and whale-watching trips.

Revenues do not cover the yearly $3.1 million the city pays to retire the debt, but that was never the intent, officials said.

``What we're most proud of is the cultural asset the museum is to the community,'' Rawls said.

It might even cover the capital costs.

According to the 1996 Boardwalk Survey conducted by Old Dominion University, visitors to the museum stayed more than a day longer at the Beach and spent $383 more per party than tourists who didn't visit the museum. Rawls said it would take some number crunching, but it looks like the taxes generated by the added tourist dollars might be enough to cover the museum's debt.

The city spent years studying the feasibility of an expanded museum, so there was not much ``nail biting,'' Block said.

``I think people were concerned, but we were excited that it would be a good thing for tourism and a good thing for the community.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Children and adults are fascinated by the museum's indigenous

sharks. Other popular exhibits include river otters and harbor

seals.

Graphic

AROUND THE COUNTRY

Top 15 marine science museums and aquariums, in 1996 attendance:

John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Ill., 1.9 million.

Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, Calif., 1.6 million.

National Aquarium, Baltimore, Md., 1.6 million.

New England Aquarium, Boston, Mass., 1.3 million.

Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga, Tenn., 1.1 million.