www.CTGreenGuide.com WINTER 2015 • CONNECTICUT GREEN GUIDE 11
HEADQUARTERS: Norwalk
PRESIDENT: Brian Davis
FOUNDED: 1988
EMPLOYEES: 80
VOLUNTEERS: 288
WEBSITE:
www.maritimeaquarium.org
DID YOU KNOW? The Maritime
Aquarium contributes $42
million annually to the
Connecticut economy, according
to a study commissioned by the
organization.
A Sound Vessel
By Brad Kane
T
he Maritime Aquarium realized over the summer that to truly listen
to Long Island Sound, it had to go quiet.
The aquarium has wrapped up its summer educational cruise
season with its new $2.7 million, 64-foot, hybrid electric catamaran, setting
new records of 2,699 passengers for the season and attracting schools from
as far as Pennsylvania.
"Given that our mission is to protect the environment, particularly Long
Island Sound, we were attracted to a hybrid boat that would use less en-
ergy," said Thomas Naiman, the aquarium's director of education.
The hybrid-electric boat — which runs off of 14 lithium ion batteries
charged by an onboard generator — replaced the aquarium's 40-foot diesel-
powered trawler. The new vessel not only holds more passengers — up to 45
— but runs much quieter, enabling students to hear teachers better. It also
keeps Sound sea life from rushing away from the noise.
Already into its fall season, the catamaran dubbed Spirit of the Sound is
running fall foliage and lighthouse tours and prepping for winter marine
life cruises. With word getting out about the new vessel and the fall season
bringing a new type of passenger, the aquarium should see even more busi-
ness coming its way, said Travis Mingo, director of vessel operations and
lead captain for the aquarium.
"Next year, we will have even more success with it," Mingo said.
The Spirit of the Sound
has an onboard
submarine that
educators can use to
showcase shipwrecks
and aquatic life.
Green Fact:
When it was last studied in 2010,
the estimated total output of
all the Connecticut maritime
industries was $7 billion.
SOURCE: UCONN
ECOmpany: THE MARITIME
AQUARIUM AT NORWALK
PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED