Maritime Aquarium Launches New Strategic Plan

Information via the Maritime Aquarium

NORWALK, CT — The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk is starting the new year with a new strategic plan.

According to a news release provided by the aquarium, the plan aims to deepen the community’s connection to Long Island Sound and the ocean over the next 10 years and inspire bold action to protect and sustain our blue planet for future generations.

"With this strategic plan, we seek to redefine the way we think of an aquarium," CEO Jason Patlis said in a news release, "one that not only showcases the wonders of the Sound and the ocean within its facility, but one that creates new experiences and new ways to think about the Sound and the ocean beyond its facility and beyond the traditional."

An Aquarium Without Walls focuses on four main pillars, according to the aquarium:

1. Reimagine the Aquarium Experience

2. Foster Lifelong Learning and Environmental Stewards

3. Protect Wildlife and Natural Habitats of Long Island Sound

4. Engage Community Near and Far

The ambitious plan builds on the roles the aquarium has played in the local community as a beloved family attraction, a leading educational institution, and a regional economic driver since opening in 1988.

Guided by the new plan, the organization will expand its reach and establish itself as a cultural institution that explores the relationship between the ocean and the human experience with the hope to create a new motivation yet unattained to protect our Long Island Sound ecosystem and beyond.

Additionally, as part of its next chapter, the aquarium has adopted a new vision and mission statement:

Vision: Ocean Protected. Lives Connected.

Mission: Ignite a connection to Long Island Sound and the ocean to enrich the lives of all people and inspire action to protect our blue planet.

"This strategic plan is the result of a year-long process involving staff, trustees, and members of the community," Chair of the Board of Trustees Clay Fowler said in a news release. "It reflects a united vision of how the aquarium will build better lives and stronger connections to our natural world and to each other, near and far."

Development of this plan was done in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders including academics, artists, peers, partners, collaborators, funders, trustees, staff, volunteers and community members near and far.

"We want the Maritime Aquarium to serve as a portal for all members of the community to not only learn and appreciate our local waters and the global ocean," Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee Neil Beup said in a news release, "but to explore and experience those waters."

The aquarium's full strategic plan, An Aquarium Without Walls, is available online.