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A Times Editorial
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 29, 2002
The hardest workers at Tampa's Florida Aquarium are not the creatures whose antics pay the bills but the irrepressible souls in the marketing department. They have to come up with answers for the tax subsidies, debt and failed attendance projections. And now the P.R. people are rationalizing a new scheme to get paying customers in the door. Or should we say, into the shark tank. For $100, visitors can swim with the sharks at the aquarium, believed to be the first program of its kind in the country.
Make no mistake: The aquarium is a great place to visit and a wonderful asset for the community. That's because the focus when it opened seven years was to educate visitors on the Florida ecosystem. "We have a mission," said John Racanelli, then-director, "to inspire people to protect the natural resources, the natural environment of Florida."
This wasn't the place for dancing dolphins, singing seals or alligator wrestling. The aquarium's commitment to that educational component helped justify using tax money to keep the place afloat.
We understand the value in using sharks as bait. An aquarium spokeswoman said this week "the phone hasn't stopped ringing from people all over the country." At $100 a pop, the tickets might lessen the need for a $700,000 annual subsidy from the city. But let's be honest about what we're doing. The shark exhibit is a theme-park experience that will go over well at cocktail parties.
The spokeswoman, undaunted, said the shark tank "is in synch with our mission," because it teaches what to do if you come upon a shark. We assume swimming with them another 30 minutes would be high upon the list. And if the aquarium guarantees the sharks are safe, what lesson do swimmers learn? That man controls his environment after all? This wasn't the message this aquarium was founded to send out.