The New York Aquarium is the oldest continually operating aquarium in the United States, located on the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded at Castle Garden in Battery Park, Manhattan, in 1896, and it moved to Coney Island in 1957. The aquarium is operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) as part of its integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium, most notably the Bronx Zoo. It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). As part of WCS, the aquarium’s mission is to save wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. Top Brooklyn Electrician
The facility occupies 14 acres (5.7 ha) and boasts 266 aquatic wildlife species. Its mission is to raise public awareness about issues facing the ocean and its inhabitants with special exhibits, public events, and research. The New York Seascape program, based out of the aquarium, is WCS’s local conservation program designed to restore healthy populations of marine species and protect New York waters, which are vital to the area’s economic and cultural vitality.
The New York Aquarium opened on December 10, 1896, at Castle Garden in Battery Park. Its first director was Tarleton Hoffman Bean (1895–1898). He was instrumental in helping to create similar wildlife organizations, especially aquaria. On October 31, 1902, the Aquarium was put under the administration of the New York Zoological Society. At the time, the Aquarium housed only 150 specimens of wildlife. Over time, its most famous director, the distinguished zoologist Charles Haskins Townsend, enlarged the collections considerably, and the Aquarium attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A towering figure in New York Zoological Society and New York Aquarium history, Doctor Townsend served as the Aquarium’s director for thirty years. Townsend’s work with whaling bans, Galápagos tortoise conservation, and the development of aquarium technology are on par with the creation of William Temple Hornaday.
Early in October 1941, the Aquarium at Battery Park was controversially closed based on claims of NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses that the proposed construction of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel from Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn might undermine Castle Clinton’s foundation. Many of the Aquarium’s Sea creatures were temporarily housed at the Bronx Zoo until the new aquarium was built after World War II.
On June 6, 1957, the Aquarium opened at its new location in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The new site of the New York Aquarium is the home of the WCS New York Seascape program – the society’s research and conservation program focusing on nearby rivers, harbor, and ocean from Cape May, New Jersey to Montauk, Long Island.
Address: 602 Surf Ave, Brooklyn, NY
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