The aquarium aims to attract not only new but also old visitors by offering new features
The Fisheries Department has decided to renew the aquascape inside the Taraporewala Aquarium situated in Marine Drive in a bid to attract visitors. The decision has been taken after several complaints by visitors and suggestions by animal-rights activists.
"To ensure that visitors get a new and different feel while viewing the fish tanks, we have decided to improve the looks through complete new aquascaping, which is an art of setting up aquatic plants, rocks, sand, cave-work and even woods in an aesthetic manner that improves the overall experience of viewing fish in aquariums," said Arun Vidhale, Commissioner, Fisheries department. Tenders have already been invited for the same.
The aquarium aims to attract not only new but also old visitors by offering new features. "As part of aquascaping, we would like to add lights too to make the tanks appealing. Apart from this, we are also looking at adding new stock of exotic fishes soon," Vidhali said. "It might take six months for the entire work to be completed," said the official.
An official working at the aquarium said that the complaints about tanks being dull were increasing. In 2017, an animal welfare NGO-PAWS, Mumbai had written to the authorities — after conducting an inspection — complaining about how several fishes were being kept in poor conditions at the aquarium.
The complaint read that in several enclosures the paint peeled off and was lying inside as it is which could be toxic for the fishes and other marine organisms, and the walls of several enclosures also seemed to be covered with fungal growth.
A marine expert said that the aquarium had no sense of aesthetics when it came to aquascaping and hence most tanks looked ugly and pathetic. "World over the role of aquascaping is important or if nothing the wall and surroundings of the tank are made interesting. We can only hope that this time they do good work since they planning a complete change," the expert said.
- 1951: Taraporewala Aquarium first inaugurate
- Rs 22 Crore: Cost for the makeover of the aquarium
- March 2015: Aquarium reopened after renovation
GROWING FOUL
In several enclosures the peeled-off paint was lying on the floor, posing a threat to the fish and other marine life. Walls of several enclosures also seemed to be covered with fungal growth
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