Owner of Folsom SeaQuest Aquarium files for bankruptcy protection in Idaho

An aquarium chain whose founder’s brother broke the law while operating an aquarium in Boise has filed for bankruptcy.

SeaQuest, based in Boise and with a location in Folsom, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday in federal bankruptcy court in Idaho.

According to multiple news reports and the Internet Archive, the company has been plagued by allegations of animal abuse at several of its locations and closed its aquariums in Colorado, Texas and Virginia earlier this year. According to its website, there are five remaining aquariums in Utah, Nevada, California, Minnesota and New Jersey.

Vince Covino, the founder and former CEO of SeaQuest, lives in Boise. He resigned in August. His brother, Ammon Covino, co-founded the former Idaho Aquarium at the corner of Cole and Franklin roads in 2010 and operated it for about three years.

Ammon Covino went to prison in 2013 for conspiring to bring illegally caught spotted rays and lemon sharks from Florida to display at the Boise Aquarium, the Statesman previously reported.

The aquarium is now operated by a nonprofit organization not affiliated with the Covinos and was renamed the Aquarium of Boise in 2014, according to Nathan Hall, the aquarium’s chief biologist.

“We have no affiliation with SeaQuest in any way, shape or form,” Hall told the Statesman by phone Tuesday. “But it’s in the same place. We worked really, really, really hard to distance ourselves from any association with them.”

SeaQuest has filed under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. The chapter is intended to enable companies to restructure and repay debts in the meantime while being protected from creditors. An ABC News affiliate in Minnesota first reported the bankruptcy filing.

In its bankruptcy filing, SeaQuest disclosed in a financial statement that its gross revenue fell from more than $27 million in 2022 to about $15 million this year.

Seaquest CEO Aaron Neilsen told the Idaho Statesman via email Tuesday that the company has a long-term plan.

“It’s business as usual at this point,” Neilsen said. “Rest assured that the animals are safe and cared for and that our employees are safe.”

The Folsom Aquarium remained open Wednesday.