on New Bedford waterfront.
Finding an aquarium that’s the size of a football field and holds 1.3 million gallons of water doesn’t come cheap. The organizers of the New Bedford Oceanarium are finding that out.
The project’s newly appointed Chief Operating Officer Robert Ciolek is grateful for the $20 million raised already for the project, but he doesn’t think the organization has been doing a good job of raising money so far.
"Everybody thinks the federal government or the state will give us all the money," he said. "But at the end of the day we’re part of the community."
It is for this reason that New Bedford Oceanarium is beginning to appeal to the public for funding. With an estimated cost of almost $100 million, the Oceanarium has 750 members, and is looking for a lot more.
"I would love to get up to 5,000 to 10,000 members within the next year or so," he said.
The Oceanarium is called that because it would be much bigger than an average aquarium. It will be an interactive center dedicated to science education and research geared toward the exploration of marine science.
Projected to be completed for the tourist season of 2005, the Oceanarium will be three times the size of the New England Aquarium in Boston.
The site is 28.5 acres at the center of New Bedford’s waterfront, and utilizes the former location of the ComElectric Generating Plant. Partnerships for the project include the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the New England Aquarium and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Graduate School for Marine Sciences and Technology.
Ciolek said that although soliciting funds such as this is a challenge, he doesn’t blame the economy for the difficulty.
"If this is everybody’s definition of a recession, they’ve never seen a recession," he said. "If there was ever any time to invest in something like this, it’s now."
The Oceanarium is expected to create at least 675 new jobs statewide when it is complete, and the construction of the project could boost the economy as well with all the work sub-contracted out by Boston-based Beacon Skanska Construction Company.
Suzanne Jack, corporate communications director for Beacon Skanska said the project would use workers from the Boston area and from the Southeastern Massachusetts region.
"Typically a project of this size would be a couple hundred construction workers on site, although it’s too early to give specific numbers," she said. "We are a local contractor so we will be using local companies."
