I used to go there a lot as knew the Bloom’s who ran it and their trainer.
The pool was a converted Olympic size swimming pool so it’s area was quite large, although they converted the shallow end into pools and holding pools. The original albeit basic aquarium that was part of the complex was also at this end.
It was about 11 feet at it’s deepest which was obviously were animal performed and for two or three dolphins is certainly was a reasonable size. They did have an inside pool for the winter which can be seen on the photos on the
Clacton Dolphinarium web site. The fact the pool is ‘hanging’ on the pier also gave them the advantage of an unlimited natural sea-water supply.
Of course, it would not be legal now for dolphins in the UK as it is not deep enough.
Personally I don’t think bottlenose dolphins need pools 24 feet deep as laid down in the UK standards – area is far more important. In fact Klinowska’s ruling on this depth criteria was not based on any observational research with captive cetaceans but on a rule of thumb that each animal should have space the was at least two times their body length in all dimensions.
The rules in the US maintain that bottlenose dolphins pool depth has to be a minimum of 6 feet. The US housing standards can be found here as part of the Animal Welfare Act:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2008/janqtr/pdf/9cfr3.104.pdf
It's a great pity the current site could not be used for marine mammals such as seal or sea lions to compliment the aquarium as the old pier owners did convert the pool for use for sea lions and improved on this in 1995 but this new facility was never used and remains there to this day unused
See pictures here by scrolling down:
The Sea Lion Show on Clacton Pier
