diff --git a/allensdk/brain_observatory/ecephys/ecephys_session_api/ecephys_nwb_session_api.py b/allensdk/brain_observatory/ecephys/ecephys_session_api/ecephys_nwb_session_api.py
index 2b8788c862..de79a9bcce 100644
--- a/allensdk/brain_observatory/ecephys/ecephys_session_api/ecephys_nwb_session_api.py
+++ b/allensdk/brain_observatory/ecephys/ecephys_session_api/ecephys_nwb_session_api.py
@@ -9,9 +9,6 @@
 
 from .ecephys_session_api import EcephysSessionApi
 from allensdk.brain_observatory.nwb.nwb_api import NwbApi
-import \
-    allensdk.brain_observatory.ecephys.nwb  # noqa Necessary to import pyNWB
-# namespaces
 from allensdk.brain_observatory.ecephys import get_unit_filter_value
 from allensdk.brain_observatory.nwb import check_nwbfile_version
 from .._channels import Channels
diff --git a/allensdk/brain_observatory/nwb/nwb_api.py b/allensdk/brain_observatory/nwb/nwb_api.py
index bfa1d7d0bc..f2d66330f1 100644
--- a/allensdk/brain_observatory/nwb/nwb_api.py
+++ b/allensdk/brain_observatory/nwb/nwb_api.py
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@
 from allensdk.brain_observatory.running_speed import RunningSpeed
 from allensdk.brain_observatory.behavior.image_api import ImageApi
 
-namespace_path = Path(__file__).parent / \
-                 'ndx-aibs-behavior-ophys.namespace.yaml'
-pynwb.load_namespaces(str(namespace_path))
-
 
 class NwbApi:
 
@@ -24,7 +20,7 @@ def nwbfile(self):
         if hasattr(self, '_nwbfile'):
             return self._nwbfile
 
-        io = pynwb.NWBHDF5IO(self.path, 'r')
+        io = pynwb.NWBHDF5IO(self.path, 'r', load_namespaces=True)
         return io.read()
 
     def __init__(self, path, **kwargs):