Sea World: From Ripple to Big Splash

After graduating from UCLA 25 years ago, four fraternity brothers decided they could earn a living and have fun in the San Diego sun by opening a restaurant and aquatic floor show on Mission Bay.

But building underwater windows in the bay’s slushy shore proved a more formidable task than the optimistic restaurateurs envisioned.

“They found out it was an expensive process . . . so they decided they might as well build a neat aquarium instead,” Bob Gault.

Today, that neat aquarium covers 135 acres of prime bayfront property, boasts scientific and entertainment facilities worth $60 million and generates 25% of the annual $1 billion in profits earned by its parent company, publishers Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Last year, 3.6 million people paid as much as $21 to visit the park, pushing attendance nearly as high as that of the San Diego Zoo, long the city’s No. 1 entertainment attraction. One industry magazine lists Sea World as California’s No. 2 tourist attraction, second only to Disneyland in popularity.

After 25 years in business, Sea World is a whale of a success, despite the massive public relations setbacks from serious injuries suffered by whale trainers.

In the early ‘60s, after negotiating with the city to lease 22 acres on Mission Bay, partners Ken Norris, Milton Shedd, David DeMott and George Millay invested $1.5 million to open Sea World on March 21, 1964.

Silver Anniversary

The 400,000 people who visited the park that first year paid $2.25 to see a dolphin show, Japanese pearl divers, hundreds of fish in a seawater aquarium and the swimming sea maidens.

Gault, now president of Sea World San Diego, earned $1.25 an hour that year as a parking attendant while attending San Diego State University.

This week, as the park celebrates the grand finale of a year of festivities leading up to its silver anniversary, entrants can visit a whale and dolphin petting pool, a penguin playpen, a walrus exhibit, and see whales, sea otters, dolphins and walruses perform a variety of tricks. There are gift shops, three huge aquariums, a musical variety show and of course, restaurants.

In 1965, the park acquired what was to become its trademark and springboard into notoriety--Shamu, the killer whale.

“That was a major step forward for Sea World, in terms of our visibility and an incredible attraction that increased our admission and profits, allowing us to begin incredible growth here,” Gault said.

When Sea World opened, the mammal collection consisted of just four species. Today, the marine-life park displays 16 types of marine mammals, including the endangered California sea otter and the rarely seen Commerson’s dolphin. About 10,000 fish, 200 marine mammals and 1,500 birds call Sea World home.

The park is synonymous with Shamu and his whale show in the 5-million gallon Shamu Stadium. Shamu, Namu, Kandu and her offspring, Baby Shamu, perform several times daily, once again frolicking with trainers in the water under strict guidelines after a 1987 accident left a trainer with a broken back and shattered pelvis.

But, with 1988 admission figures reaching an all-time high, the park seems to have suffered little from the debacle. Sea World has always made good use of public relations, advertising and community involvement to increase attendance and create a positive image.

Last year, for example, it capitalized on the zoo’s exhibition of two Giant Pandas from China by referring to the black-and-white striped Commerson’s dolphins as “the pandas of the sea.”

Park publicists also play up the success of their breeding program, which in 1985 resulted in the first Commerson’s dolphin born in captivity. Likewise, 40 bottlenose dolphins and 100 California sea lions have been born at Sea World parks, as well as 1,000 penguins.

Beached Animals

Staff veterinarians rescue hundreds of beached animals each year, usually harbor seals and sea lions, but occasionally dolphins, whales and pelicans stranded up and down the California Coast.

But, during its first quarter-century, a watershed of troubles have sometimes stirred the usually calm waters at Sea World:

- In 1971, a female trainer was bitten by a whale during practice. The story caused a national sensation when a local cameraman captured footage of the incident. The woman eventually sued Sea World, but an appellate court rescinded the monetary award recommended by the jury.

- In 1983, the park was widely criticized for plans to capture 100 killer whales off the Alaskan and California coasts. During public hearings held by the federal government, Washington state officials accused Sea World of botching earlier capture attempts in 1976. Whales that died during the efforts were cut open, wrapped with chains and sunk to a watery grave, according to one Washington official.

- Since 1986, the park has been dumping an undue amount of wastes into Mission Bay, mainly chlorine and coliform, according to the Regional Water Quality Control Board, which issued strict clean-up orders late last year.

- And, in November, 1987, the image-conscious park suffered its most severe and public embarrassment when a killer whale landed on 26-year-old John Sillick during a performance, breaking the trainer’s back, ribs, pelvis, and one leg. Sillick and another trainer have sued Sea World over the incident.

It led to reports that other trainers had also been hurt earlier that year, but mention of the accidents was hushed by park officials. Several top executives were fired after the mishap when it was revealed that trainers were entering the water with as little as three months’ experience.

HBJ even considered selling Sea World and its five other theme parks.

When critics point to these problems or chastise the park for creating nothing more than a carnival to display helpless animals, Sea World officials point to the park’s educational aspects, research and development and classes for children, adults and students.

More than 100,000 people participate in Sea World-sponsored programs each year, said park publicist Daniel LeBlanc. Scientists working at the Sea World Research Institute travel all over the globe collecting data about marine life and helping with marine and aquatic research in other locales.

Difficult Days

Both the education and research programs began with the park’s inception as part of the founders’ agreement with the city. Milton Shedd, Sea World’s first president, helped start both programs by financing them through admission receipts. Shedd eventually left the company and now runs a commercial fishing business near Newport Beach.

Like Shedd, the remaining partners also left Sea World early, Gault said. Ken Norris teaches environmental studies at University of California at Santa Cruz, George Millay went on to open the successful Wet ‘n’ Wild water slide parks. David DeMott died.

But Gault stayed on, as fascinated with Sea World as he had been with Marineland before the local park opened. Soon, he was parking cars 40 hours a week and trying to fit in his college classes. He eventually became director of operations and went on to open Sea World parks in Cleveland and Orlando before returning to his native San Diego.

HBJ also runs an aquatic park in San Antonio, Tex., and the “Boardwalk and Baseball” park in Cypress Gardens, Fla. The parks make up one-third of HBJ’s holdings. The publishing company also has investments in the insurance industry.

Although Gault is pleased with what the park has achieved, he looks back fondly on the Sea World’s early days, when it was far from the smoothly run entertainment industry it is today.

He recalled that, during the ‘60s, it was a major task to keep the filtration system running properly to clean the bay water pumped into the aquarium. One summer, the dark brown algae known as “red tide” engulfed the bay, clogging Sea World’s aquarium filters.

“You couldn’t see more than six inches into the show tank where the sea maidens were supposed to be swimming,” he said.

Gault, other employees and even the owners worked frantically every night for a month, cleaning the filters to keep the tank clear for the next day’s show.

“We’ve come a long way since then,” Gault said.