MONTEREY — Founded by a gaggle of young marine biologists, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has all the time focused on local marine life and was once intended to be “just” a public educational facility. But over the past 40 years, it has evolved and now emphasizes the importance of ocean conservation — something that’s dear to the guts of marine biologist and later aquarium co-founder and executive director Julie Packard.
The idea of constructing an aquarium near Monterey Bay had been discussed since at the least the Twenties. But the vision that eventually became the Monterey Bay Aquarium got here within the Seventies from a gaggle of scientists and students at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove. They included Packard, her sister Nancy, and her brother-in-law Robin Burnett. Looking on the neighboring Hovden Cannery, which was now not in operation but had been purchased by Stanford to stop development, they may imagine it will be the proper place for an aquarium.
“The inspiration for us was that we had all studied here (at Hopkins) and worked on our graduate degrees,” Packard said. “We were all marine biologists. We had spent a lot of time in this amazing piece of nature that we have here, and we wanted to share it with others.”
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The aquarium has develop into a world-class attraction, drawing visitors from world wide. Packard had imagined that the aquarium's popularity could be known not only within the Monterey community, but in addition worldwide. She was flawed.
“We had no idea the aquarium would develop such a reputation,” Packard said. “First of all, that we would have such a strong visitor response. In the first year we had over two million visitors, which is about twice what we expected. And then we built such a following worldwide through word of mouth, it was fantastic.”
Packard said her first major media appearance was an appearance on the quilt of Sunset Magazine. Thanks to social media, the aquarium can now reach an audience like never before.
“It's so exciting because we have a lot of followers who have never been to the aquarium and never will. They either live far away, or they have a disability, they're housebound, or who knows, many, many issues,” Packard said. “And it's just such a great way to spread the message and expand our reach.”
The early days
The Monterey Bay Aquarium places a number of emphasis on storytelling. Packard says, “There are so many crazy and interesting stories to tell about the ocean and the many different habitats here in Monterey Bay, you just never run out of stories.”
Some of Packard's favorite stories of the past 40 years come from the aquarium's early days and his work with architects, engineers and their steering committee of biologists.
They had many ideas about which animals they wanted to point out, because as scientists they knew the animals' stories were fascinating. However, their potential as an exhibit that the general public would wish to see was a challenge.
“There was just a lot of creative tension on the planning team because we had the biologists from the founding group, we had all these stories to tell,” Packard said. “Initially, we were pretty naive about what the public would be interested in. We had some great aquarium professionals who knew animal care and knew what the public would be interested in. And we had my father (David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard), who was a powerful, brilliant businessman and didn't really know much about a lot of aquariums. He was very practical.”
“There was a lot of it that was fun, and, well, it wasn't always fun, but it was an unforgettable experience,” Packard said.
Packard and her team took a hands-on approach to constructing the Monterey Bay Aquarium and were heavily involved within the planning work of its founding committee, which included founders and marine biologists David and Lucille Packard, who were also the financial backers, a director of animal husbandry, and consultants.
“We originally naively thought we could just remodel a large part of the building, which shows how much we knew about construction projects,” she said. “It was a very steep learning curve for everyone.”
The founders' idea from the start was that the aquarium ought to be a community resource.
“On opening day, when my father gave the opening speech and we opened the doors to the public, his words were 'Come and enjoy your aquarium,' when all those thousands of people were lined up on Cannery Row who had waited for years to experience this new aquarium,” Packard said. “The idea of how much the aquarium was embraced by the community was just incredible.”
A concentrate on marine conservation
From the start, the aquarium believed that only a few people have the chance to see what lies beneath the ocean's surface. Many within the aquarium's leadership saw a chance to coach visitors in regards to the need for ocean conservation and within the late Nineties modified their mission statement to “to inspire ocean conservation.”
“Over time, we've really become much more focused on making people aware of our relationship with the ocean, our impacts, and, most importantly, what we can all do to work toward a healthy ocean for the future,” Packard said.
The aquarium has also used storytelling to get its message across, tackling issues like overfishing and the ocean otter population. “They were hunted almost to extinction, so close, and have slowly recovered over time,” Packard said.
“Monterey Bay has been mined for over 100 years,” Packard said. “The incredible abundance of marine life that existed here led people for generations to hunt whales and hunt sea otters and fish and sardines and all that, and it all really took its toll.”
The aquarium has focused on some critical threats to the oceans lately, including unsustainable fishing and agriculture, and has helped combat this threat through its Seafood Watch program, something Packard said he is especially happy with.
“California has always been a leader in environmental policy, and so in addition to our national and international work, we've always had a big focus on California, which we plan to continue to do,” Packard said. “We have the only integrated statewide network of marine sanctuaries and state waters. We have our National Marine Sanctuary, which has been expanded several times, and hopefully it will be expanded again with the new Chumash Sanctuary further south.”
Recently, the aquarium has develop into more involved in ocean plastic pollution as a result of the worldwide ocean plastics agreement. Margaret Spring, the aquarium's chief conservation officer, led a National Academy of Sciences study on ocean plastic pollution within the United States and was tapped for the UN agreement.
“Global climate change is the mother of all conservation problems,” Packard stressed. “Everything is connected to it, and if we don't slow it down and turn things around, all other efforts won't get very far.”
Although global climate change could be a daunting concept, Packard and the Aquarium proceed to work to coach their audiences in regards to the connection between healthy oceans and success within the fight against climate change.
“I think when a lot of people think about protecting the oceans, they think about saving animals, saving whales and marine animals, which is obviously important, but on an even more fundamental level that affects us so directly, the ocean absorbs a huge amount of the heat that we've generated since the Industrial Revolution,” Packard explained. “That has a huge impact and makes things much better than they would otherwise be.”
When the conservation movement began within the Seventies, Packard said it was all the time in regards to the land. “We are land mammals and we focus on what's going on in our habitat,” Packard said.
The oceans cover 71% of the Earth, but represent over 95% of the habitat by volume. For the oceans to satisfy their role in combating climate change, they need to contain all plankton and photosynthetic organisms and be healthy.
“When it comes to fighting climate change, the ocean is our best friend,” Packard said.
Packard will probably be honored with the John Laird Lifetime Achievement Award on October 12 for her global contribution to marine conservation and environmental protection.
Originally published:
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