The Woods Hole Science Aquarium will close for major repairs starting this fall.
The repairs will require the aquarium to shut off its water and life support systems for about eight months. As a result, most of the sea creatures that live at the aquarium will have to be released or re-homed.
The repairs will be to the basement foundation. The aquarium first discovered its building problems in 2023.
A NOAA press release calls the decision to release or re-home most of its collection "difficult but necessary." Included in the relocation will be the aquarium's 25-year-old harbor seal, Bubba, who will be sent to a zoo in Indiana in mid-to-late May, a later timeline than originally anticipated.
Aquarium spokesperson Teri Frady shared that the delay is due to the receiving institution still finalizing the construction of the new marine mammal habitat where Bubba will reside.
As sad as that may be for Bubba's fans, there is one piece of good news — at his new home at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, Bubba will have other harbor seal friends to play with.
Bubba originally came to Woods Hole because his former home, the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, was phasing out its seal exhibit, and Bubba was the last seal and living alone for years.
He was transferred to the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, where he would share a tank with the harbor seal Kitt. But Kitt died in 2023, and Bubba was once again a lone seal.
But not for long. Bubba's seal pool will close in May, as he will soon embark on the 900-mile trip to Indiana.
The aquarium is open from 11 to 4 on weekdays.
