Pandemic Budgets Force the Oregon Coast Aquarium to Sink or Swim

At the beginning of their busiest season, and amid an 18-million-dollar project, the Oregon Coast Aquarium was forced to close. Like many visitor-based organizations, the Aquarium lost a lot as statewide restrictions were put in place following the rise of COVID-19. Seven months and six million dollars in lost revenue later, they are still struggling.

Julie Woodward, the aquarium’s Director of Marketing said that they “could easily see over a thousand people a day, under normal circumstances.” However, the continued restrictions on visitors have reduced that number substantially. “Even now, we’re only allowed a hundred people an hour,” Woodward said, a fact that was compounded by the aquarium shortening their hours this week as they prepared for the winter season.

Winter, which has been the aquarium’s least profitable season, was usually subsidized by increased attendance in the spring and summer. Woodward said, “We have a huge peak for Spring Break … and then from Memorial Day to Labor Day, that is our prime time.” But local lockdowns resulted in the aquarium being closed throughout its primary fundraising season. But the aquarium is not the only group in need.

“There’s a lot of donor fatigue going on,” said Woodward, “and a lot of people asking for money.” With a global pandemic and local forest fires, there are a lot of causes that are asking for donations. But not all of them oversee 15,000 animals. Where some businesses need a steady income to keep lights on, the Oregon Coast Aquarium needs one to keep the sea anemones fed.

Regardless of the change in funding, the aquarium has maintained all its necessary services. “Nothing about their treatment before or during the closure was any different,” said Woodward, while discussing the many animals under their care. But the money had to come from somewhere, and without regular visitors, the aquarium had to rely on the help of donors.

Even with a substantial donation from one of the aquarium’s board members, the organization has had to make sacrifices to keep things running. “We’ve had layoffs, we’ve lost all of our benefits except for healthcare and sick leave,” Woodward said, “senior management took a ten percent pay cut and that’s still in effect.” Even with those restrictions, the aquarium is still avoiding unnecessary spending, “we’re just really tightening the purse strings.”

For the aquarium, potential revenue was not the only funding they lost. Before having to close, they received a five-million-dollar endowment funded by Oregon Lottery tickets. The aquarium had never received any state support before, but that funding was rescinded after state restrictions were implemented. That funding was part of a much larger project that the aquarium has been working on for months. But with funding at a standstill, and attendance decreasing every day, it is going to be a long time before things go back to normal, and even longer before the Oregon Coast Aquarium can continue to move forward. “For us, it’s going to take years to recoup.”