25-04-2025
Gulf World loses International Alliance Accreditation
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – The alliance of marine mammal parks and aquariums, or AMMPA is an association that acts as a sanctioning body for marine parks worldwide.
AMMPA lists 26 accredited parks in the US, nine of them in Florida. Gulf World Marine Park is no longer one of them.
Gulfarium in Fort Walton Beach is a completely separate facility from Gulf World. It's been accredited through AMMPA for almost 15 years.
'The alliance enables us to reach for the gold standard of animal care and welfare, taking that knowledge and best practices of so many organizations throughout the world that care for marine mammals and be able to implement those,' Gulfarium Director Patrick Berry said.
AMMPA's website claims the alliance has the 'most comprehensive and stringent' accreditation standards. Facilities must pass the requirements every five years, which involves a multi-day, on-site inspection.
Gulf World has filed for bankruptcy
The list of inspection requirements is long and covers just about everything in a marine park, including animal health and welfare, public interaction programs, and record keeping.
'They're extremely thorough. There's 11 different sections in our standards guidelines, and within each of those sections, they're broken down into even finer details of what standards we need to follow. So it's a very detailed, very scrutinized accreditation inspection,' Berry said.
It is unclear whether Gulf World failed the inspection, opted out of renewing, or had the accreditation removed.
Gulf World first came under fire in March after a dolphin died during a public show, the fourth in less than six months.
Drone videos posted online show dark, murky, algae-filled pools where dolphins are still housed.
The park remains open to the public and as of April 24th, they're still offering dolphin encounter experiences.
Gulf World and owners, The Dolphin Company, have remained tight-lipped about operations, and have refused to return any of News13's calls or emails.
Last month, Gulf World filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court, gutted the leadership staff, and hired a restructuring team.
That team has also failed to return News13's communication attempts.
The bankruptcy proceedings are ongoing.
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