Scripps Over Last Hurdle in Quest for New Aquarium

"We're finishing up design details right now," he said. "As soon as the final drawings are done, this project will be ready to go to bed."

The aquarium will display mainly Pacific Coast marine life, including that of the kelp beds off La Jolla and the vibrant sea life along the California and Baja coasts.

But the aquarium's goal will be to attract support for marine science in general, Wilkie said. "We have public education goals to increase the understanding of the ocean and stress the point that its resources need to be used wisely."

Though much larger than its predecessor, the new aquarium will be be about one-fifth the size of the privately owned Monterey Bay Aquarium. But that doesn't bother institute officials.

"I don't think the community would support something on that scale, certainly not here in La Jolla," Collins said. "We don't do any advertising. Our role is to provide a public service for the people of San Diego.

"We're not out hustling promotion. We take a different approach than in Monterey or at Sea World."

The fate of the old aquarium is uncertain, Wilkie said. "There's some structural damage, some severe corrosion," he said. "We won't know how bad it is until we vacate the building.

"We'd like to use the place as a site for some scientific collections owned by the university--geologic and vertebrate collections. But right now the fate of the building is unknown."

The new aquarium, Wilkie said, will be a better for both people and fish. For the marine life, the image might be one of inmates getting a new prison with expanded cells.

"I wouldn't say 'prison,' " Wilkie said. "Actually, we're trying to provide the closest thing we can to a natural habitat. The proximity to fresh salt water allows us to keep species healthier and alive longer than many other aquariums.

"And besides, we'll have reproduction occurring in our tanks. That doesn't happen in prison."