Øresund Aquarium under threat of closure — again

When the University Post went on a tuna safari with the Øresund Aquarium in the autumn of 2024, we could report that the aquarium was riding a wave of success.

Giant, leaping tuna returned to the Øresund strait a few years ago after more than 60 years of absence, and in recent years they have attracted thousands of people to the aquarium’s popular tuna safaris.

The public success followed several years during which the aquarium in Helsingør — a University of Copenhagen (UCPH) unit — was under threat of closure. This was until it was added to the government budget in 2018. Now trouble is brewing yet again.

READ ALSO: Øresund Aquarium: Surfing a wave of success on the back of a giant tuna

»We’ll see how many times we can cry wolf before it actually happens,« says aquarium director Jens Peder Jeppesen. He is tired of having to, once again, get the attention of politicians and the media to maintain the aquarium.

The aquarium was granted a DKK 3 million annual subsidy on the national budget in the period 2022–2025. And now they’re back again, cap in hand — because unless the Øresund Aquarium makes it onto next year’s government budget, it is once more at risk of shutting down.

»Our current funding runs out this year, so we’re now trying to give the politicians an early warning,« says Jens Peder Jeppesen, adding:

»It makes planning so much harder when we can only be certain of our future four years at a time.«

Wants permanent support

The aquarium director would prefer to see permanent, long-term support for the Øresund Aquarium.

But this is just wishful thinking at this point, according to Niels Kroer who is head of the Department of Biology which the aquarium unit is a part of.

Why can’t the Department of Biology or the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) provide a permanent operating subsidy for the aquarium?

»Running a public aquarium is not a part of the university’s core mission. The aquarium does a really great job, but in terms of the university’s core services — research and teaching — it is nice to have, not need to have. This means that if the Department of Biology or UCPH were to give an annual operating subsidy of DKK 3 million, it would be at the expense of our core services,« says Niels Kroer. He explains that UCPH already covers the aquarium’s rent and utilities.

»That’s why the special appropriation on the national budget is necessary for the aquarium’s continued existence,« he says.

For the aquarium to secure permanent support elsewhere, it would have to become an independent, self-owning entity. But that’s in neither the aquarium nor the UCPH interest, according to Niels Kroer:

»If the aquarium were to become self-owning, there’s a risk that the close connection with researchers would be lost. It would also be more expensive for the government, as rent, building maintenance, electricity and so on would then have to be financed via the government grant,« the department head says.

Aquarium director Jens Peder Jeppesen agrees that it makes no sense for the aquarium to become a self-owning institution:

»We have a fantastic symbiosis with the Department of Biology and the Marine Biology Section in Helsingør. We hope to be included on next year’s government budget. But of course it’s frustrating that we can’t make more long-term plans and have to be in this situation every four years.«