Massive New Seal Exhibit Unveiled At Norwalk's Maritime Aquarium

NORWALK, CT — The harbor seals have always been a big attraction to guests at the Maritime Aquarium since its opening in 1988, so much so that the aquarium's logo even pays tribute to them.

The seals' home recently underwent an extensive transformation to become Pinniped Cove, the largest aquatic display in the aquarium's 33-year history. After years of work and planning, the massive new exhibit was finally unveiled to the public Tuesday.

Now the aquarium's five seals, Ariel, Leila, Polly, Rasal and Tillie, have more room to swim and relax in an area meant to evoke their natural environment: a classic New England cove.

As aquarium spokesperson Dave Sigworth watched guests excitedly make their way toward the exhibit Tuesday morning, with all the enthusiasm of families entering Disneyland at its opening hour, he said the entire aquarium team was thrilled to see Pinniped Cove open for all to enjoy.

"We've been waiting for years," Sigworth said, "and to finally see it open and our members literally running down the entranceway to be the first to see it, it's very rewarding."

The seals' original home was mainly a pool with straight walls, with one side of the pool inside the facility and one outside. Now guests can view the seals underwater from the cavernous bottom half of the two-level exhibit, or head upstairs to see the seals traverse around or lounge upon the the exhibit's fabricated rockwork.

Sigworth noted the archway through which the seals can swim on the top half of the exhibit was formerly a window to outside the aquarium.

Norwalk resident Jenifer Juarez and her daughter, Aria Derosa, were among the first guests to view the exhibit Tuesday morning. Though they visit the aquarium often, Juarez said she and her daughter were astounded by the seals' massive new home.

"It's beautiful," Juarez said, "and the seals look happy...they have a lot more space, and it's really cool how they're downstairs and upstairs now."

She also noted the larger exhibit space made it easier for guests to see the seals, as their old exhibit tended to get crowded at times.

"There's more space for you to be able to enjoy them," Juarez said.

According to Sigworth, the 22-foot deep exhibit holds 160,000 gallons of water and is over eight times larger than the seals' original 19,000-gallon exhibit, where they had lived since the aquarium's opening.

Pinniped Cove is also nearly 50 percent larger than the aquarium's popular 110,000-gallon, 18-foot-deep shark exhibit, which was previously the facility's largest display.

Jason Patlis, the aquarium's president and CEO, took a moment before the seals' first live feeding in the new exhibit to thank guests for their enthusiastic response.

"This is a transformation moment for us," Patlis said, "a transformation moment for the Maritime Aquarium, for our members, for our guests and the community, but it's mostly a transformation moment for these five females."

Danbury resident and former Norwalk teacher Toni Kenner Pepe attended the unveiling Tuesday, having gone to the aquarium numerous times since its opening. She spoke highly of the new exhibit and the impression it could leave on the children visiting the aquarium.

"I love that the kids can get right up and look down [at the seals]," Kenner Pepe said. "That's key for taking care of wildlife, for kids to realize the rest of us are aging out, but they've got to save the planet and its creatures."

The exhibit's debut comes just five months after the opening of a 169-seat 4D movie theater and redesigned main entrance, which together represent the largest capital construction project in the aquarium's history, Sigworth said.

According to press materials provided by Sigworth, construction of the seal exhibit and the 4D theater represent a unique collaborative effort by the state, the city of Norwalk and the aquarium to address the impacts of the upcoming replacement of the Walk Bridge, a 125-year-old railroad bridge adjacent to the aquarium.

The project required razing the aquarium's former IMAX theater and replacing the original seal habitat, which was partially outdoors, to ensure the seals and aquarium guests can enjoy a secure indoor habitat protected from the construction noise just yards away.

The state provided $40 million in funding and the city managed the capital construction project for the aquarium to compensate for the loss of those signature assets.

"I am extraordinarily grateful to Gov. [Ned] Lamont and to Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling, and their respective staffs, for their partnership in this enterprise," Patlis said in a news release. "That we completed the project in the midst of a global pandemic is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved."

Pinniped Cove also boasts a number exciting features behind the scenes, including a complex life-support system to maintain water quality, where constant filtering cleans and sanitizes all 160,000 gallons every 66 minutes.

Also featured is an adjacent new room for preparing the seals; food, vitamins and nutritional supplements and an adjacent veterinary clinic equipped with state-of-the-art surgical and treatment facilities, as well as three small pools where a seal can be isolated for treatment or post-op care if needed.

Barrett Christie, the aquarium's director of animal husbandry, took groups of guests to view the areas behind the scenes Tuesday morning.

According to Christie, all five seals at the aquarium are between 30 and 36 years old, even though the average lifespan of a harbor seal is only 28 years old in the wild. He attributed this to the excellent veterinarian care and nutrition the animals receive.

"This [veterinary clinic] space enables us to take the best care of not just the seals," Christie said, "but all the animals here at the Maritime Aquarium."

The same rings true for the seals' new exhibit, which offers them the best possible facilities they could want, Christie said.

"I mean, they are geriatric animals," Christie said. "They've gotten phenomenal care to get them to live this long, but this just ensures that they're going to have the best possible care in the best possible facilities for the rest of their natural lives."

Though most guests won't know all the planning, work and behind the scenes care that goes into simply providing the seals with a new exhibit, Sigworth sees it as fulfilling the aquarium's promise to offer both its sea creatures and guests the best experience they could hope for.

"We've always maintained that we are one of the best aquariums in the United States," Sigworth said, "and this just brings us up at that level to have something so big and gorgeous to show to our guests and to use to educate our guests about seals and the Long Island Sound environment. We're thrilled to have it finally open."