Privacy Policy

National Aquarium Privacy Policy

The National Aquarium (“National Aquarium,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it. National Aquarium has established this Privacy Policy to describe how we collect, use, and share information about individuals who interact with National Aquarium, such as those who visit our aquarium or our website located at https://aqua.org/ or any other site that links to this Privacy Policy (the “Site”).

Information Collection

When visiting our aquarium or Site, you may provide information about yourself, including your first and last name, your home or other physical address, your email address, your log-in information, your billing information, and any other similar information you choose to provide. For example, we may collect this information when you purchase a ticket for admission or for any of our programs or events, register to receive our newsletter, make a donation, sign up for a membership and create an account, apply for a job, contact us with questions, or interact with us for any other purpose. Additionally, we may obtain information about you from certain third parties and combine it with the information we collect from you.

We (and other entities) automatically collect information relating to your interactions with us and our Site, including your browser type, IP address, the page you visited and other activities on the Site, device type, and time and date of visit, and other information we collect through the use of cookies and similar technology. Please see the “Digital Advertising & Analytics” section of this Privacy Policy to learn more about the use of this information and the choices available to you.

Information Use

National Aquarium may use your information we collect for any lawful purpose, including:

to provide products and services to you;
to communicate with you, including to provide customer service and support to you;
to send updates, promotional e-mails, advertisements, and information that may be of interest to you;
to operate, personalize, and improve the Site or our services, including for analytics, marketing, and promotional purposes;
to comply with the law and to maintain the security of our Site;
to prevent and detect fraud; or
with your consent, or as otherwise disclosed at the time information is collected.

National Aquarium may use information that has been deidentified or aggregated without limitation.

Information Sharing

National Aquarium may share the information we collect with other parties, including the following:

to service providers who process information on our behalf to help us to provide certain products and services to you, such as email service providers, data hosting services, research partners, and payment processors;
to any affiliates or joint venture partners we may have in the future;
to other organizations and entities that sponsor or jointly offer our services and events, when you participate in those services or events;
to Advertising Providers who provide advertising and marketing services as described in the “Digital Advertising & Analytics” section below;
to third-party partners who participate in collaborative data models;
to protect our rights or property or the rights of third parties, or to protect the safety or security of any person or entity;
in special circumstances, such as part of a corporate sale or potential sale, merger, acquisition, or other transfer of all or part of National Aquarium’s assets, including as part of a bankruptcy proceeding involving National Aquarium;
pursuant to a subpoena, court order, governmental inquiry, or other legal process or when we believe in good faith that it is required or permitted by law; or
when you have consented to such disclosure or as otherwise disclosed at the time of data collection or sharing.

National Aquarium may share information that has been deidentified or aggregated without limitation.

Maryland Privacy Rights

Maryland grants individuals certain rights under its state privacy law with respect to “personal data” we collect (as that term is defined by state law). If you are a Maryland resident, this section of the Privacy Policy contains disclosures required by law and explains rights that may be available to you.

Personal Data We Process. We process the following categories of personal data about Maryland consumers:

Personal and online identifiers (such as first and last name, email address, or unique online identifiers);
Financial or transactions information (such as such as billing or financial information and records of products or services purchased, obtained, or considered);
Internet or other electronic network activity information (such as browsing history, search history, or interactions with a website, email, application, or advertisement);
Geolocation information (such as your device’s general location or your zip code);
Inferences drawn from the above information about your predicted characteristics and preferences; and
Other information about you that is linked to the personal information above.

Why We Process Maryland Personal Data. We process the personal data we collect for the purposes described in the “Information Use” section above.

We may use and share deidentified and aggregated data to the extent permitted by applicable law. When we use deidentified data, we maintain and use the information in deidentified form and do not attempt to reidentify it, except to check whether our deidentification processes satisfy the requirements of applicable law.

Recipients of Maryland Personal Data. We may share the categories of personal data designated above with the categories of third parties listed in the “Information Sharing” section above.

Your Rights Regarding Personal Data. Maryland residents have certain rights with respect to the personal data collected by businesses. If you are a Maryland resident, you may exercise the following rights regarding personal data about you, subject to certain exceptions and limitations:

The right to know whether we process personal data about you;
The right to access personal data about you;
The right to receive a portable and readily useable copy of the personal data you have provided to us, to the extent feasible;
The right to request a list of the categories of third parties to which we have shared personal data;
The right to request that we correct inaccuracies in personal data we have collected about you;
The right to request that we delete the personal data we have collected about you;
The right to opt out of (i) the processing of personal data for targeted advertising; or (ii) the sale of personal data. National Aquarium engages in some advertising activities that we treat as processing for targeted advertising and that may be considered “sales” as defined by applicable privacy laws. Please note that if you opt out of certain practices, we may be unable to provide you with some services.
The right not to receive discriminatory treatment for the exercise of the above privacy rights.

To exercise any of the above rights, please complete this form or contact us by email at privacy@aqua.org and submit the required authentication information, as further described below. Additionally, if you have submitted a request that we have not reasonably fulfilled, you may contact us to appeal our decision by sending an email with the subject line “Appeal” to privacy@aqua.org.

Authentication Process and Required Information. Please note that we may need to request additional information from you to verify your identity and understand the scope of your request. You will not be required to create an account with us to submit a request or have it fulfilled. We will require you to provide, at a minimum basic contact information, such as name and email address.

Your Choices

To edit your marketing preferences and/or to opt out of receiving communications from National Aquarium, you can use the link provided at the bottom of each marketing message or send an email to privacy@aqua.org. National Aquarium reserves the right to send you certain communications relating to this Site that are considered part of your account, such as technical alerts or messages related to our transactions, including order confirmations, without offering you the opportunity to opt out.

We provide you with the opportunity to access, review, and correct the personal information we maintain about you. You may contact us regarding any inquiry or request concerning such rights by sending an email to privacy@aqua.org.

Digital Advertising & Analytics

We may partner with ad networks and other ad serving providers (“Advertising Providers”) that serve ads on behalf of us and others on non-affiliated platforms. Some of those ads may be personalized, meaning that they are intended to be relevant to you based on information Advertising Providers collect about your use of the Site and other sites or apps over time, including information about relationships among different browsers and devices. This type of advertising is known as interest-based advertising.

National Aquarium adheres to the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Self-Regulatory Principles in connection with this interest-based advertising activity. You may visit the DAA Webchoices tool at www.aboutads.info to learn more about this type of advertising and how to opt out of this advertising on websites by companies participating in the DAA self-regulatory program. You can also exercise choices regarding interest-based advertising on your mobile device by downloading the appropriate version of the DAA’s AppChoices tool at https://youradchoices.com/appchoices.

If you delete your cookies or use a different browser or mobile device, you may need to renew your opt-out choices exercised through the DAA Webchoices tool. Note that electing to opt out will not stop advertising from appearing in your browser or applications. It may make the ads you see less relevant to your interests.

We may also work with third parties that collect data about your use of the Site and other sites or apps over time for non-advertising purposes. National Aquarium uses Google Analytics and other third-party services to improve the performance of the Site and for analytics and marketing purposes. For more information about how Google Analytics collects and uses data when you use our Site, visit www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners, and to opt out of Google Analytics, visit tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Additionally, your browser may offer tools to limit the use of cookies or to delete cookies; however, if you use these tools, our Site may not function as intended.

Third-Party Links and Tools

We may provide links on the Site to third-party websites or apps, including social media pages and fundraising tools. These websites and apps are independent from National Aquarium. National Aquarium has no control over the privacy practices of these websites or apps, and they are not covered by this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review the terms of service and privacy policies of other websites or apps that you use to learn about their data practices.

The Site may also include integrated social media tools or “plug-ins,” such as social networking tools offered by third parties. If you use these tools to share information or you otherwise interact with these features on the Site, those companies may collect information about you and may use and share such information in accordance with your account settings, including by sharing such information with the general public. Your interactions with third-party companies and your use of their features are governed by the privacy notices of the companies that provide those features. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy notices of any accounts you create and use.

Security

National Aquarium maintains safeguards designed to help protect the information we collect and to help provide for the secure transmission of that information over the Internet.

Changes to This Policy

National Aquarium reserves the right at any time to change or modify this Privacy Policy. If we make changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post the amended version on our Site and the effective date will be updated. We encourage you to visit this page periodically to learn of any updates.

Contacting Us

If you have comments or questions about our Privacy Policy, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@aqua.org.

Effective date: October 1, 2025