miami – As the Miami Aquarium faces growing issues surrounding animal health and structural safety, a South Florida attorney says the Marine Aquarium is appealing to small business owners who have done work on its Virginia Key property. He said he hadn’t paid his bill.
Domingo Rodriguez, a Coral Gables-based attorney, said he has received similar communications from several Seaquarium vendors.
“As far as I know, they haven’t received any payment on their bill since October of last year,” Rodriguez said. “They (the aquarium) didn’t return calls, texts, emails, zero communication, so they came to me.”
Rodriguez said vendors he has spoken to have debts totaling more than $150,000.
“That’s a lot of money for a small business,” he says. “Every business has employees and needs to pay rent and bills. This can be devastating.”
Local 10 News spoke to a variety of contractors, from welding and engineering to pest control and water filtration, who also said Sea Aquarium owes them, in some cases thousands of dollars. He said that in some cases, the amount was even higher.
The park also owes Miami-Dade County tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent dating back to October. SEA Aquarium was issued two default notices.
“I wish there was something the county could do to put pressure on the vendors to pay,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know how much interest the county has in that as opposed to them being paid.”
In March 2022, the county “celebrated” the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s approval of the transfer of the Miami Sea Aquarium lease from Palace Entertainment Holdings to MS Leisure Company, an operating subsidiary of Dolphin Company.
Since then, the USDA has released a series of violations, warnings, and findings documenting facility failures and animal injuries and suffering.
Just last week, the county asked the Department of Agriculture if its employees could accompany federal inspectors on upcoming inspections and “participate in all corresponding exit/summary interviews with Sea Aquarium personnel.”
The Dolphin Company lists the venues on its website, and park operators say they span eight countries and two continents.
“This is not a small company,” Rodriguez said.
That’s why it’s strange, he said, that some small businesses in South Florida are struggling to make payroll.
“It’s amazing that local small businesses are the victims and have to pay the price for their dereliction of duty,” Rodriguez said. “I hope something can be worked out.”
In a “worst-case scenario,” companies may have to resort to litigation, Rodriguez said.
One vendor told Local 10 News that the Miami Seaquarium finally made the payment over the weekend.
Another manager said Monday that SEA Aquarium owes him $7,000 for work done last summer and plans to take legal action.
Meanwhile, like many business owners, Local 10 News did not respond to a request for comment from the Miami Seaquarium.
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