National Aquarium Celebrates Earth Day with Release of Annual Impact Report

The National Aquarium is commemorating Earth Day 2026 with the official release of its annual Impact Report documenting the progress, milestones and achievements that drove the organization forward throughout the previous year.

In 2025, while striving to meet its mission to connect people with nature to inspire compassion and care for our ocean planet, Maryland's top paid cultural attraction attracted 1.1 million guests, generating $430 million in state-wide economic impact and $36 million in annual tax revenue. More than 109,000 guests visited at free or reduced admission as part of the Aquarium's educational and community programs, and more than 52,000 students and educators visited at no cost courtesy of the Aquarium's partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education, placing a trip to the Aquarium within reach for more Marylanders than ever. Another 28,000 local students took part in Aquarium educational programs either in their schools, on the Aquarium's campus, or out in the world for a total of approximately 80,000 impacted students.

"As a nonprofit organization, this report reflects the incredible work of the Aquarium's staff, volunteers, and partners who live our mission every day," said Interim President & CEO Jennifer Driban. "However, the impact I'm most proud of is the one that's hardest to measure: the moment a child puts their hand to the glass and decides, right then, that the ocean is worth protecting. Every experience exists to create more of those moments. As we approach our forty-fifth anniversary in August, we are reflecting on the generations of Marylanders that have grown up with the National Aquarium and looking to the future with hope and optimism."

An impressive 676,498 small group or one-on-one conversations were tracked between staff and volunteers and visitors throughout the year. More than 70 percent of Aquarium guests visit from outside of Maryland, and 20 percent book an overnight stay as part of their Baltimore experience. About 90 percent of Aquarium guests cite the National Aquarium as the reason for their trip to downtown Baltimore.

As detailed in the full Impact Report available to the public on the Aquarium's website, the Aquarium's community was engaged in more ways than ever throughout 2025, from an Aquarium visit to community conservation projects to exciting programming like Voyages, the Aquarium's experiential, artist-driven, after-hours program which, in 2025, brought more than 600 guests together for a special theatrical experience with Submersive Productions, garnering two Baltimore Magazine Best of Baltimore Awards along the way.

Also in 2025, Harbor Wetland, the Aquarium's new living marsh habitat welcomed more than 103,000 guests during its first full year of operation since its August 2024 debut. The exhibit, a free, outdoor experience open to both Aquarium guests and the general public regardless of Aquarium admission purchase, also welcomed an array of wildlife that have made the wetland part of their natural habitat, from Maryland terrapins and blue crabs to some very viral river otters who have regularly made their presence known to Aquarium trail cameras—to the delight of social media audiences and fans throughout Maryland and beyond.

In other animal news, 2025 saw the return of sea turtles to the Aquarium's exhibit spaces with the arrival of Kai, a rehabilitated Kemp's ridley sea turtle "graduate" of National Aquarium's Animal Rescue efforts taking to her new home in the central Blacktip Reef habitat. Additionally, Aquarium staff continued work to breed 27 species as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) larval breeding program. And, as part of continued efforts to prepare them for their eventual move to an expansive, naturalistic oceanwater setting, 650 hours were devoted to the training of our pod of six Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. National Aquarium Animal Rescue assisted a total of 99 rescued animals—84 turtles and 15 seals—throughout 2025.

The National Aquarium also advocated in support of 77 bills and policies at the local, state and federal levels addressing a range of ocean, wildlife and conservation-related issues, including a leadership role in pursuit of the Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act.

The National Aquarium's important work both on its campuses and throughout the state and region would not be possible without the support of its broad philanthropic community and its core of more than 600 volunteers that help to power its mission, from in-building guest and animal support to conservation planting, BioBlitz and clean-up events throughout Baltimore and Maryland.