Monterey Bay Aquarium’s reopening plans put on hold.
Landmark site on Cannery Row will obey state mandate to shut down again
The sea otters, jellyfish and sharks are going to have to wait. Two weeks after announcing a reopening date, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has had to put its comeback plans on hold.
After being closed since midMarch due to the coronavirus pandemic, the renowned attraction on Monterey’s Cannery Row — widely considered one of the top aquariums in the United States — had planned to reopen its doors Monday, with members and donors getting an early peek starting on Thursday.
But aquarium officials announced Monday that those reopening plans are delayed indefinitely. The reason: Gov. Gavin Newsom placed Monterey County on a “watch list” of 19 counties late last week. In those counties, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations or other coronavirus trends are considered to be growing at too fast a rate, according to state health officials.
In an attempt to slow the spread, Newsom prohibited indoor operations at restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, family entertainment venues, zoos, museums and card rooms in those counties for at least three weeks, and required bars there to close
all operations.
Despite taking extensive safety precautions, and announcing it would limit the number of visitors to no more than 25% of normal, the Monterey Bay Aquarium was caught in that net.
Aquarium officials say they will comply with the decision and have no plans to make waves.
“We’re really excited to welcome people back to Monterey Bay Aquarium,” said spokesman Kevin Connor. “Even though it’s disappointing to have to postpone our reopening, this is a decision that was made in the interest of public health and safety.”
Ticket sales had been going well since the aquarium announced June 22 it would be reopening. Now, the earliest potential date appears to be around the end of July, depending on rate of COVID-19 spread in Monterey.
Tickets already purchased can be exchanged for a later date and ticket
holders will be contacted directly via email with details. The aquarium said it also will reschedule its member and donor visitation days.
Zoos and aquariums, which make most of their revenue from ticket sales, have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. The Oakland Zoo announced last week that it is losing $2 million a month.
Without a new infusion of money by being allowed to open as an outdoor museum, it is at risk of closing permanently, zoo administrators say.
Starting June 12, Newsom allowed aquariums, zoos, museums and botanical gardens to reopen, as long as they followed a variety of health and safety rules, as part of California’s gradual reopening of restaurants, stores, hotels and other businesses.
The San Diego Zoo has reopened at 50% visitation, as has the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium, which opened in 1984 after a $55 million gift from tech pioneer David
Packard and his wife, Lucile, had planned to require every visitor age 3 and older to wear a mask to enter, along with all employees and volunteers. Tickets were planned to be sold in time increments, to reduce crowds.
Despite historically drawing about 2 million visitors a year and having a stronger donor and membership base than many similar organizations, the aquarium has been forced to make cuts while closed.
Facing $45 million in losses this year, the aquarium announced in April that it would lay off 93 employees and furlough an additional 128 — a 38% reduction in its workforce of about 560 people — to conserve enough money to continue to properly care for the animals and maintain its facilities.
The animals are fine, aquarium officials say.
In fact, anyone can watch them online, at live webcams, which already have drawn millions of viewers.