Amelia Otto, 16, got the thoughts of 1000 people, mostly high-school students in a survey on the possible closure of the National Aquarium in Napier. Photo: RNZ
- RNZ
A teenage girl is fighting to keep the national aquarium in Napier open.
The council is considering closing it after the Government denied it funds for a huge redevelopment.
Amelia Otto, 16, feared the animals - such as turtles, penguins, fish and even kiwi will be abandoned with nowhere to go.
"It's a great, great asset, really valuable," she said, "so many people love it and it would be such a loss."
Otto sent a survey around Napier schools and got more than 1000 responses.
Eighty-two per cent thought the council should keep the aquarium open. She said that showed overwhelming support.
"I thought that was really great to see," she said.
"It showed that I'm not the only one who thinks that the aquarium should stay open and I think, with that behind it, that will give the council more reason to try keep fighting for it as well."
She said it was important teenagers were listened to.
"We are kind of the least represented age group when it comes to surveys like this, when most of the time it's stuff which will affect us in the future."
She argued it was a perfect facility for the region.
"Hawke's Bay's Te-Matau-a-Māui, which is also the fishhook, and so it's kind of hooking people in, the education, all kind of binding it together in this one great space."
The aquarium, owned by the city council, was due to go through a multi-million dollar redevelopment.
But that likely would not happen, because the council could not find anyone to pay for it.
Now the council was considering its future - if it would be refurbished on a smaller scale, used for something else or closed.
On the streets of central Napier, residents were disheartened about it potentially shutting down.
"It's always been there, right when I was a kid," one woman said.
"There's always been an aquarium in Napier. It's quite a tourist attraction and we don't have a lot of them, I'd be gutted, I think all of Napier would be."
"It's an attraction that people come here to see, so it shutting down is really going to hurt the tourism that's already hurting with the lack of cruise ships," one man said.
"I think it's one of the main features of people coming to Napier as a holiday destination, so lots of families enjoy the experience, so I think it'd be a bit sad really," another woman thought.
But another woman said it was a "double-edged sword".
"I like it because it's a family attraction that brings people to Hawke's Bay maybe, but it does need a bit of an update, in my opinion."
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said she understood the community supported it.
"I don't think there would be anybody, or very few people, that would want to see the aquarium close."
But she said it had to be thought about.
"It will be probably considered as one of the overarching options because you have to consider everything. But the Napier community love our aquarium and there's definitely room for us to look at how we might actually repurpose it."
On Tuesday Wise said she was aware of concern in the community that the aquarium was about to close, but said "that is simply not the case.
"We have committed nearly $9 million in our Long Term Plan for capital renewals projects at the Aquarium. This demonstrates how much our Council values our wildlife, the team and the facility. Our dedicated aquarium team is really heartened by this and excited about the future."
Wise this year asked Tourism Minister Stuart Nash, who is also Napier's MP, if any central government funding options were available.
But he said no, suggesting the Lotteries Significant Projects fund could be a possible source of cash.
RNZ asked Nash what he thought of the aquarium as a Napier resident and its MP, but he did not respond.
Wise said the community would get its say on the future of the aquarium next year.
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