PUSH MADE TO LET BROOKLYN

RUN AQUARIUM

By Holly Tsang

The New York Aquarium marked two milestones in the past year. Last June, the aquarium welcomed Akituusaq, only the sixth surviving walrus calf ever born in an aquarium. Then in April, Bertha, a sand tiger shark who was believed to be one of the oldest sharks in captivity, died after having been a resident of the aquarium since the 1960s.

As the rhythms of life and death played out, a debate over the future of the aquarium was brewing.

Since February, there has been talk of bringing the New York Aquarium in Coney Island under local management. Some advocates argue that the aquarium deserves more attention than it presently receives.

The aquarium is currently run by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a nonprofit organization that also manages the Bronx Zoo, Queens Zoo, Central Park Zoo and the Prospect Park Zoo.

The call for local management has been led by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

"Because it falls under the same umbrella as the Bronx Zoo -- and because the society's expertise is operating zoos -- the aquarium remains a perennial afterthought for funding and programming," Markowitz said in his annual State of the Borough Address.

Markowitz said that he would ask Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office about working with his office to create a Brooklyn-based board of directors to manage the aquarium.

Markowitz mentioned how much it pains him to think that more New Yorkers visit Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut than the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn.

Fran Hackett, a spokeswoman for the aquarium, reported that the aquarium has an annual budget of $14.3 million. According to Hackett, the aquarium had over 760,000 visitors in 2007. Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut had a budget of $21 million in 2006.

"While I applaud the society's work with zoos, let's face it, this aquarium needs a whale-size investment, not a budget the size of a guppy," said Markowitz.

Markowitz asked the city to reconsider the century-old arrangement that placed the aquarium under management by the WCS in 1902. He implied that a change in management might boost the number of local visitors and improve the aquarium overall "so that Brooklyn's aquarium can finally swim with the big fish."

Even though Markowitz claims that the aquarium suffers from a lack of local visitors, it is still possible to find New Yorkers there, especially those with children. Residents and tourists alike who visited the aquarium generally only had good things to say about it.

Lauren Monchik, a resident of Manhattan's Upper West Side, enjoyed her first trip to the aquarium since she was pregnant with her daughter, Violet, who is now a year and a half.

"We like it because it's close to the city. Mystic Aquarium is too far; we'd be exhausted with a child. It's nature within the city," said Monchik, who came with her husband and daughter.

Glen Gans, an accountant from Long Island, brought his sons Nicholas and Thomas to the aquarium. It was the first time visiting for all of them.

When asked about suggestions for improvements, Gans replied, "It's my first time here, so I can't really make any improvements." Surprisingly, when people did have suggestions for improvements, they did not call for major changes such as new exhibits and building expansion. Instead, they noticed smaller details that can be addressed immediately.

"I think that the aquarium could probably clean their glasses. There's a lot of scratches on the glasses too. I would say probably just focus on the glasses and the presentation of everything," said Blaire Brunz, a salesperson for a moving company from Colorado.

Another visitor made a similar comment when asked what improvements might be made. "I don't know. Perhaps the glasses are very dirty," said Yeser Morales, an exchange student from Spain who is studying at Columbia University.

Some visitors were asked to respond to Markowitz's statements, but most had not heard about the plan for a local-based board.

"I don't know much about it, so I can't really say what would be best, but I would say that since the aquarium is located in Brooklyn, there definitely needs to be some kind of Brooklyn affiliation to it," said Brunz.

Parsons School of Design student Liz Levin, 18, did not know about the proposal, but she suggested that the aquarium increase its number of local visitors by advertising more and promoting awareness.

"The Aquarium has a lot of potential to be a bigger tourist attraction than it is," said Ezra Serrur, a student at Hunter College.

The aquarium may have a lot to offer, but its isolated location may work against it in the long run.

The southernmost area of Brooklyn is very far from the rest of the city, so people have avoided going down there without good reason. In the summertime, Coney Island's beach, boardwalk, amusement park and aquarium draw large crowds, though the numbers have been declining in recent years.

"People come out to Coney Island either for the beach and rides or for the aquarium, and they rarely do both," said Jon Dohlin, director of the New York Aquarium since January 2008.

Even if a Brooklyn-based board is established to oversee the aquarium, there is no guarantee that there will be a success story to tell. For now, the best anyone can hope for is Markowitz's proposal to pass.

"A better managed New York aquarium sounds like something that's in the interest of the borough that houses it," said Serrur, a Brooklyn native.