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The Tampa aquarium had forecast first-year attendance of 1.7 million and 1.6 million annual attendance a year after that to pay off its $84 million construction debt. But attendance was only 1 million in its first year and it pulled in just 600,000 visitors in 1996.

Only an emergency bail-out from the city kept the project from defaulting on its loan.

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Aquariums today seek not only to entertain, but to educate, interest and influence as well.

''Aquariums all can't just have fish swimming around in glass boxes. We've got to tell stories,'' said Jerry Schubel, president of the New England Aquarium in Boston. ''Can they be more than just places for entertainment? ... That's the challenge.''

It's a challenge that a number of new aquarium projects are taking up, displaying not only aquatic exhibits from around the world, but providing programs that profile environmental problems facing local regions.

Greater Cincinnati's version of an aquarium project is slated for Newport and is expected to cost $40 million. The aquarium is due to be completed in May 1999.

With the Newport project, Greater Cincinnati is joining a nationwide trend.

It seems as if almost every city with a river, sea or lakeside waterfront is considering building an aquarium.

About 12 projects have a good chance of finally being constructed, said Leighton Taylor, a marine biologist and aquarium consultant.

They will join a pack of recent projects that developers have found not only provide regional education about local ecosystems, but are good business as well.

From 1989 to 1996, 10 new aquariums joined the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, a non-profit organization of zoo and aquarium professionals. Annual aquarium attendance has risen from 23 million in 1989 to 34.7 million in 1996, according to statistics provided by the association.

New aquariums are being constructed in Denver, Albuquerque, Long Beach, Calif., and Charleston, S.C., with an emphasis on local ecosystems.

City planners in Cleveland and Detroit have discussed bringing in aquariums as a revitalization tool for their waterfronts.

''Aquariums are operationally self-sufficient,'' Taylor said.

''In almost every case they bring in more money than they spend.''

The South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, opening in 1999, will focus on water environments from the mountains and marshlands of the Carolinas to the oceanic ecosystems off its coast.

''There has been a changing role. Until recently, they have not seen themselves as an environmental organization. But that is what many of them are becoming,'' said Christopher Andrews, director of the South Carolina Aquarium.

''Not only are you still providing exciting exhibits; they have more of a relevance locally that can get people involved.''

Experts say the trend toward regional exhibits started in 1969, with the New England Aquarium in Boston.

Schubel sees aquariums taking on almost an activist role in environmental matters.

The New England Aquarium sponsors research that helps endangered species and addresses local and global environmental issues such as overfishing.

More recently, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, built in 1984 in Monterey, Calif., has been praised for providing exhibits and programs on its local region.

''The reason to focus on regional issues is because you're more likely to change behavior because it's right outside your front door,'' said David Pittenger executive director for the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Aquarium officials concede regional education works best in an area with biological diversity, such as Monterey Bay.

It doesn't always work.

''I think the regional theme is a great starting point,'' said John Racanelli, president of the Florida Aquarium.

''I think inflexible religious commitment to that could be dangerous and hold up an organization.''

Racanelli speaks from experience.

The Tampa aquarium had forecast first-year attendance of 1.7 million and 1.6 million annual attendance a year after that to pay off its $84 million construction debt. But attendance was only 1 million in its first year and it pulled in just 600,000 visitors in 1996.

Only an emergency bail-out from the city kept the project from defaulting on its loan.

To attract more visitors, aquarium officials turned to old standbys such as exhibits on sharks and stingrays and exotic, colorful fish from outside the Florida and Caribbean region.

Racanelli said the changes have helped spur an upswing in attendance.

Consultants say that the Tampa experience shows aquariums have to connect local exhibits to the global environment to be successful.