(gentle music) - At the southern end of the coast, the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is preparing for its next chapter.

While the building undergoes a major expansion, the work of caring for its animals and connecting with the community continues.

(child chattering) I sat down with Fort Fisher director, Joanna Zazzali, to talk about the renovation and how the aquarium's work continues even while its doors are closed.

Joanna, how would you describe the aquarium at Fort Fisher?

- The aquarium has so many different programs, activities, animals, conservation stories to offer to the community.

We are nestled on 22 acres, beautiful land, salt marshes, just outside of Wilmington, right next to the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape Fear River.

- You're undergoing a major renovation.

Tell me about that.

- So we are increasing our square footage by roughly 25,000 square feet.

We are going to have a new sand tiger shark habitat that will be 400,000 gallons.

- The visitors are gonna love that.

- Yes, it's gonna bring our visitors nose to nose with the majestic sand tiger sharks, sand bar sharks, and hundreds of other species of animals.

- During this expansion, the work does not stop.

What's happening behind the scenes here?

- The animals are still here, and our staff still need to be here to take care of them, enrich them, care for them, work with them.

And it's going really well.

You know, our animals are getting used to not having the public here.

We're used to having about a half a million people come through the doors, but then all of a sudden, one day it stopped.

We've noticed since closure that our otters have been a lot more interested in people and things coming up to the windows that they've been missing out on their people watching.

So we had the great idea of getting cardboard cutouts to come dance around for them, and they'll come up to the window and interact with them, and we move them throughout the day.

We have the Friends cast, we have the Big Bang Theory, some presidents, and we have Jason Momoa as Aquaman.

- Right now, while this expansion is happening, people cannot visit Fort Fisher, but there is another place that they can stop through.

- That's correct.

We do have Discovery Bay, located at Independence Mall in Wilmington, and the team here created a kind of mini experience for the public, for the community.

We really wanted to remain engaged.

- Discovery Bay brings a little bit of the aquarium to the heart of Wilmington, with live animal and plant exhibits, hands-on activities, animal ambassador programs, and even a look at careers in science and conservation.

- At the main building, people are intentionally coming to the aquarium.

Here, people stumble upon us, and that has been a gift, in my opinion, because you get to see people so excited about the animals that they maybe never knew they would see in real life.

We have some students coming after school that typically sit out in the mall.

We are hoping to welcome them in with our brand new Career Corner exhibit.

- The exhibit introduces students to a range of careers in aquariums, science, and conservation.

- We all started somewhere, and we want to show maybe those folks in their teens and early 20s that might go to the mall, you can be a part of this, too.

- Staff are the backbone of our organization.

Without the people, we could not be successful.

When a family comes, and they have an experience at one of our habitats, when they talk to one of our staff in a blue shirt, that's a life-changing experience for them.

People remember that for the rest of their lives.

And really, that's the challenge to ourselves, is how do we create more opportunities for those public that want to learn more, that want to find out what is their role in supporting conservation of wildlife.

And that's where we see ourselves moving in the next 10, 20, 50 years.

♪ - Discovery Bay is located at Independence Mall in Wilmington, in the JCPenney Wing, across from the arcade.

It's open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.

to 8 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

For more information about its offerings, visit ncaquariums.com/discovery-bay.