Texas Aquarium nominated for USA Today Award

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (KXAN) — USA Today has nominated the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi for the Best Aquarium of 2024 award. The vote runs until mid-May.

KXAN meteorologist Nick Bannin spoke with Texas State Aquarium CEO Jesse Gilbert about the nomination and the aquarium's importance to the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.

KXAN meteorologist Nick Bannin: Jessie, you were nominated for Best Aquarium of 2024 by USA Today. Can you tell us something about this nomination?

Jesse Gilbert, CEO of the Texas State Aquarium: Secure. That's why we were honored to be nominated alongside a group of aquariums from across North America, Great Aquariums. But we are a little biased. We are the largest aquarium in the state of Texas, the official aquarium of the state of Texas. That's why the nomination is a great honor. And we want to encourage Texans to vote for the Texas State Aquarium. You can vote every day from now until May 13th. And really make sure Texas is on the map from an aquarium perspective.

Bannin: You also care a lot about the wildlife and marine life in the Gulf of Mexico, right? Can you tell us something about it?

Gilbert: This is what we do. The most important thing we do to address wildlife resilience is our wildlife rescue and rehabilitation program. This is the premier coastal wildlife rescue program in the United States. And it's right here in Corpus Christi. And so it's not only a win for the Coastal Bend and Corpus Christi area, but more importantly for the state of Texas. We have the largest seafood capacity in the United States. During a catastrophic event, we can hold more than 4,000 to 5,000 sea turtles at a time. We just opened our new wildlife rescue center, which is currently the largest center in the United States with state-of-the-art technology. And all of that adds up to ensuring that these populations are resilient and that Texans can enjoy them for generations.

It's an exciting program, it's released almost 4,000 animals back into the habitat over the last probably 10 or 15 years. This keeps us busy, especially when the cold weather hits and sea turtles show up. We had more than 1,200 sea turtles in the aquarium at one time. So it's a very, very active program.

Bannin: Jesse, for people here in Central Texas who want to visit the aquarium, they get tickets, not just admission, right?

Gilbert: Right. So you buy a ticket to the largest aquarium in Texas. You can have a great time all day long, but you're helping to fund the largest wildlife rescue program in the state and so you're partnering and saving these wildlife with the Texas State Aquarium. And so you kind of get a two-for-one deal for it.

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