They also do
a ton of oceanic conservation and research as well.
So I doubt your $27 ticket price is going towards just feeding the penguins or buying someone time on a private jet.
Yes, this. Their operations are in no way exclusive to that ugly-ass (and, yet, with exhibits under constant renovation!) building. They run a harbor porpoise rehab center in Duxbury and a marine hospital in Quincy. That's where they chose to invest their warchest when the planned late-90's relocation of the main aquarium stalled out. But, you know...not open to the public because hard boring work rehabilitating native Harbor animals to health isn't fun to look at, so let's just pretend that whole pesky "research and conservation" side of the organization doesn't exist.
Also...if you haven't done one of their whale watches, you're missing out on the experience of a lifetime. I have old pictures somewhere of the last one I went out on during peak feeding season, with humpbacks using the side of the boat as a literal fucking dinner utensil to trap schools of fish by letting out a blow wedging the fish in a big meatball against the hull of the boat. I watched from 20 feet away while a female demonstrated this tool-making technique for her newly weaned calf then nudged it to partake in the meal. The fish were literally flying out of the water and flapping against the side of the boat. The whales were making eye contact with us between gulps before they went back under to prepare another meatball against the hull. The onboard staff said they know by time of day when the boat schedule is and where to wait for it, immediately recognize the boat as a "friendly" regular interloper that's safe to approach because it always cut the engine when nearby (vs. some random unknown boat where they will instinctually dive below propeller depth and/or keep a wide berth), and come right on over to chow down. Same individuals year after year, and they have unique personalities such that you can ID some individuals without even seeing them solely by the pattern of bubbles they blow. Whole time this is going on for the crowd's entertainment there's research staff onboard collecting data on who's out and about in the Harbor that day, health, behavior, group dynamics in the pods, and whether there's been any changes that may indicate stress in the social structure. They do that every single day.
There are bad zoos/aquariums and there are good ones (and the seventh circle of hell ones like Sea World). It's not a subjective ranking; they are
vigorously accredited by multiple veterinary and conservation organizations. The American Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the gold-standard such accrediting organization, has such strict standards for animal care that only 10% of the zoos and aquariums in the United States earn their much sought-after certification. And have to have their accreditation renewed once every 5 years.
Both NEAQ and Franklin Park Zoo are AZA-accredited, BTW.
NEAQ actually did slip up and lose their accreditation from 2003-06 because of the staff they had to cut during the budget crisis brought on by the quadruple-whammy of cancellation of their then-planned expansion, post-9/11 economy hurting receipts, Big Dig construction on their doorstep hurting receipts some more, and Aquarium station's closure/renovation hurting receipts yet more. They've been back in AZA's good graces ever since, but not even mitigating circumstances well out of their control matter for the accreditation process; AZA does not fuck around.
I totally get that some people are opposed to any sort of animal captivity. It's a complex issue that's hardly cut-and-dried. But, please, spare the hyperbole if it's not going to be backed up by citations. The foremost marine biologists on the planet put facilities like this through intense scientific scrutiny, and they are hardly a monoculture of industry yes-men. Us armchair Internet assholes don't have one iota the expertise to make whole-cloth claims about
anything related to aquarium operations; those claims have to be backed up by a modicum of corroborated evidence cited from someone who knows surgically what they're talking about re: good aquariums vs. bad.
