Museums have a long and proud tradition in maintaining and developing public aquaria. However, to conform with modern requirement s and with new zoo licensing regulations, they must increasingly justify their operation in terms of conservation, education and scientific study. The 'Living Waters' project at the Horniman Museum is the first public aquarium dedicated to underwater conservation. It is taken as an example of a substantial development which integrates the three aspects above, and which is strongly supported by public and private bodies and the World Wide Fund for Nature It took four years in the planning and execution and cost about 300,000 GBP.
