Sealife Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond Aquarium
Loch Lomond Shores,
Ben Lomond Way,
Balloch G83 8QL
Tel: 01389 721500
About Sealife Loch Lomond
Sealife is a network of innovative centres across the UK, Europe and beyond that operate both as a family attraction and great family day out, and also as a conservation and education organisation. Sealife helps millions of people to discover the marine world through its coastal sanctuaries, such as Gweek, in the West Country, and its hi-tech, all swimming all dancing centres in Birmingham, Great Yarmouth, Blackpool, Brighton, Scarborough, Weymouth and Loch Lomond. Each Sealife centre helps to safeguard the seas and their inhabitants for the future and for all of us, by sponsoring conservation efforts and through increased public awareness among visitors on their family day out.
Dedicated Sealife projects include regular contributions to conservation and marine animal welfare schemes, and a special programme to manage and develop these activities: Save Our Seas – S.O.S.
Among the Sealife SOS success stories this millennium are a petition that led to a heavy fine for the Greek government and forced it to improve protection for nesting beaches for Loggerhead Sea Turtles on its coastline; a petition that helped to bring about a ban on the shark-finning industry in European national waters; pressure to reduce the slaughter of dolphins and porpoises in fishing nets and to implement overall cuts in fishing quotas; and funding for a new turtle rescue centre on the Greek island of Zakynthos. Ongoing Sealife campaigning includes an effort to eliminate rogue fishermen dodging EU quotas by flying flags of convenience.
Other Sealife work at its centres includes the creation of a spacious enclosure for families of Asian short-clawed otters, allowing them the freedom and enjoyment that visitors get from a family day out at Sealife. A ticket will also allow access to seahorses and the research done on them that has cast serious doubt on their much-vaunted monogamy! And that’s not the only family attraction at this family attraction!
There’s the rapidly growing Sealife seal rescue network for common and grey seals, and a ground- (or is it sea) breaking programme of shark conservation, which had rehabilitated the creatures both literally and in the public psyche. All of these things, and much more besides, make a visit to any Sealife centre an intriguing and informative family day out. Just the ticket for an all year round family attraction that the weather can’t spoil.
Sealife Loch Lomond is housed in the redoubtable Drumkinnon Tower on Ben Lomond Way, Balloch, Scotland, in a beautiful rural setting outside Dumbarton. It is the UK’s most recently opened Sealife marine centre – the first in a decade – and despite causing controversy at the time, about the viability of such a family attraction in his part of the country, it has proved a hit family day out and is one of the leading facilities in the country.
The Sealife Loch Lomond is a family attraction that is home to a panoply of mostly native Scottish marine and freshwater life-forms, with 26 displays taking in waters and their habitues from the Clyde Estuary to North Sea, as well as tracts further afield, such as the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Among the more exotic species on show for visitors are sharks, rays and seahorses, while conservation efforts include a popular Otter Sanctuary. The Asian Short Clawed Otters there are a major attraction, their enclosure having a dramatic waterfall pouring into a fast-running stream, and their antics are a highlight of any fun family day out to Sealife Loch Lomond.
Local species are represented by the likes of freshwater minnows, Perch, Trout, Stickleback and Eels, as well as native sea-dwellers such as Cod, Bass, Skate and Rays.
The Tropical Ocean Display includes a re-created sunken wreck of the SS Sea King, which was built nearby on the river Clyde, and its display tank is populated by colourful tropical fish and warm water sharks, not to mention the mighty wreckfish, all of which can be viewed from a new display tunnel as part of the entry ticket. Another key part of any family day out to Sealife Loch Lomond are the regular demonstrations by experts of various forms of fauna, with visitors encouraged to handle various crustacean species.
The Finding Nemo tank houses the Clownfish and Blue Tang, which represented Nemo and Dory in the animated film, and gifts can be bought from the site shop, adjacent to the café and other facilities.
The Sealife Loch Lomond site also boasts over twenty species of tropical fish, notably six black tip sharks, two nurse sharks and a zebra shark called Sir Bobby Robson (after the former Newcastle and England football manager!).
As well as information about freshwater species from nearby Dumbarton and the Clyde Estuary, the Sealife Loch Lomond holds regular talks on creatures such as the Sharks, Seahorses, Otters and Rays, and provides educational opportunities for parties of school children, as well as for visitors on a family day out. Just the ticket.
The Aquarium ticket also includes an audible-visual experience and touch pool, making it both an informative and fun family attraction, not prone to the vagaries of the weather, thereby guaranteeing a marvellous family day out.