Monterey Bay Aquarium a thriving force
Mission includes spreading message of conservation
Daniel Lopez
The Monterey County Herald
10/12/2009
Shortly before noon that day almost 25 years ago, the cannery whistle roared and a ceremonial blue ribbon was cut at Monterey Bay Aquarium.
There had been a parade that morning and a dedication ceremony as an estimated crowd of 30,000 crammed into Cannery Row. More than 11,000 people trooped through the exhibit halls Oct. 20, 1984, the grand opening day of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Julie Packard, the executive director of the aquarium, was one of the speakers that day, reading a telegram from President Ronald Reagan.
"May it thrive for generations to come," the telegram read.
The aquarium has had more than 44 million visitors pass through its gates, more than twice the population of Australia.
Herald reporter Daniel Lopez recently sat down with Packard for a conversation about the early days of the aquarium, its new direction toward conservation of ocean resources — and its impact on the fishing industry — and a look at the future of Monterey's most popular tourist attraction. The following is what Packard had to say on a number of issues Lopez broached.
The early concept and expanded vision
"The original idea for the aquarium was mainly educational — (establishing) an institution that was about public education," Packard said. "Our original mission statement talked about expanding awareness and increasing our knowledge of Monterey Bay and the ocean environment.
Over the years, mainly as the health of our oceans declined, we have evolved in our mission and had a much bigger focus on the idea of stewardship and conservation.
So back in the mid-'90s we actually changed our mission statement to what it is today — 'To inspire conservation of the ocean' — to acknowledge that the ultimate goal is to help the oceans for future generations.
Whereas we began as thinking of ourselves as an aquarium, today we think of ourselves much more as an aquarium and a conservation organization as well."
Entertainment or education?
"We never, ever used the entertainment word in our thinking early on. What's been added to that educational mission has been the conservation and stewardship mission.
So where before our exhibits were interesting stories about the natural history of the animals, today we tell those stories, but we don't just talk about fish. We talk about the health of the ocean as it relates to the fish, and we talk about people and human activities and how they are affecting the health of ocean animals.
I think that we are known as a place of high integrity and a place to learn. I think that's people's expectation. We rarely get visitor comments that the experience was boring.
I think people are looking for something that is engaging. We want to engage people in thinking and learning, not just entertainment."
The popularity question
"I think that the popularity of this aquarium has a lot do with our site and the beauty of the Monterey Peninsula and Monterey Bay itself. Most aquariums are in major urban areas. They don't have a connection to real nature like we do.
I think the aesthetics of this aquarium and the fact that we try to present things in a way that's not just all about science and facts, but recognizes the beauty of the ocean really touches people.
We have really come a long way in redefining what an aquarium can be. Today we are involved in a lot of conservation work that has an impact way beyond our walls.
The next step, the kinds of things that we are working on right now, is to take our conservation impact and reach a lot more people beyond our walls — people that have never been here and also may never come here — to get them more engaged, to maybe get them to become involved with our seafood work, maybe become advocates and weigh in on ocean policy issues."
Climate change
"We are opening a special exhibition next spring that has a theme of climate change and the ocean. We want to convey an upbeat and hopeful message. We are going to be showing the effect of global climate change on the ocean animals and habitats.
But we are also going to put a big focus on positive stories of what people are doing to try to address global climate change. We hope people will leave feeling hopeful and inspired.
(We want them to feel) it's worth making the effort, it's worth getting involved in policy issues, it's worth working in my local community on green energy."
Marine protected areas
"A lot of our local fishermen are not happy about (marine protected areas) and it's totally understandable. They just feel that (there's) regulation after restriction that just never ends.
But the good news is there's really a positive benefit to having some pieces — even if it's just a very small percentage — of our oceans set aside where species can grow and flourish. In many cases, they will reproduce more and there will be benefits outside the reserve areas.
A lot of people feel that compared to how much protected area we have on land, the amount of protected area we have in the ocean is a tiny fraction and it's really an investment in the idea that healthy ecosystems will produce the most fish."
Fishing industry restrictions
"We believe really strongly in the idea that healthy fisheries and fishing communities are part of a thriving society and we absolutely are working toward a future where fishermen and the fishing industry will thrive. That's our goal.
Unfortunately, all the regulations have not been achieving the goal of maintaining healthy fish stocks. Fishermen are absolutely beleaguered. They are having a very tough time and we acknowledge that.
Monterey, historically, is a fishing community and that's one of the most special things about this place. We want to see fishing boats here forever.
(But) my concern is, with no fish there aren't going to be any fishermen. It's one of the hardest things in human nature for us to take the long-term view and recognize we may need to lay off a few of these fisheries for a while so they can rebuild.
The good news is that the ocean is really resilient. Fish populations have many success stories where the fish stocks have been fished down to dangerously low conditions and restrictions have been put in place and they have rebounded."
