I'm guessing people don't think too highly of Sea Life?
The problem I see it with Sealife is that they are a visitor attraction before being a zoological collection – there is a subtle different.
When Sealife started it was a rather low-key aquarium display primarily native marine fish albeit in some innovative ways with the development acrylic tanks of various forms and shapes we now take for granted.
However, it is now just a small part of the entertainment giant Merlin Entertainment and you can clearly see it is operated by marketing people and accountants not zoo people.
They breed very little of the display stock and the take a rather pompous hypocritical attitude by, for example, labelling exhibits as ‘sanctuaries’ –which they are not. They make
dubious position statements on the keeping of cetaceans in captivity even to the point of lying that the UK have banned the keeping of this species, which they have not. And as Maguari's points out they still have sand-tigers at London Aquarium after they took it over despite them making public statements that they didn't not approve of the keeping of this species. They (Merlin) also have a dolphin show in their
Gardaland park in Italy.
Moreover as re the cetaceans, this was, in fact (IMHO) a ploy to try and placate the animal-rights activist when the took over the old
Brighton Aquarium and also involved the dubious action of giving Brighton’s last two long term captive dolphins to the
Into Blue Project which released these animals to an unknown fate in the Caribbean.
Unfortunately for Sealife these actions back fired on them when they tried to build a seal and otter pool on the entrance outside area at Brighton and then had the very same activists and groups such as Born Free Foundation they tried to court, protesting and resulting in the plans being abandon.
UK Indymedia | Protesters victory over Brighton Sealife Centre
They pay lip-service to conservation but seem to do very little. People I know who have worked for them and moved on tend not to be very impressed with them on many levels.
I also agree with Maguari's many points and also echo the point the problems I highlight above stem from the company's corporate ethos and not the front-line staff who obviously do the best that they can for the husbandry of the animals in there care.
It is not by chance that a number of zoo aquarist refer to Sealife in private as the MacDonald’s of the aquarium industry.
One final point which I have discussed with colleagues - some former Sealife employers - is that there must come a time when Sealife will run out of steam. You can not continue to build more and more aqauriums based a very basic template before customers start getting bored with this very basic and expensive concept.
Sealife have already reviewed and sold off a number of their smaller (less profitable?) centres which actaully continue to do well and expand and on face value seem to have a more zoological ethos.
Personally I suspect like dolphinaria the Sealife concept will wane and like dolphinaria in Europe and the US only the better will survive.
