By Elizabeth Carroll and Skylar Stock
Over 30 different species showcasing the variety of local aquatic life in Long Beach are now available through the Aquarium of the Pacific’s new Marine Species Report Card, released on Feb. 6.
The vision of the 12-year-long project, according to the aquarium’s President and CEO Peter Kareiva, is to simplify any confusion the public holds on local biodiversity.
“The way people experience biodiversity locally is through their local species,” Kareiva said. “That’s why you have to talk about the species.”
Starting up the project in 2013, The Aquarium of the Pacific’s team of aquarium contributors and external experts embarked on a journey to introduce Californians to the wildlife just outside their back door.
Jennie Dean, vice president of education and conservation, speaks to the press about the aquarium’s collaboration with other institutions to create the Marine Species Report Card on Feb. 6.
Photo Credit: Justin Enriquez
According to Jennie Dean, the vice president of education and conservation, the report card presents population information using data as far back as 1999.
“The idea is that it will activate stewardship,” Dean said. “When the average person reads about how bull kelp are doing, or gray whales, that they will then inherently care a little more about these animals and plants around them and activate change.”
The report includes essential species, from popular marine mammals like sea otters to the crucial ecosystem underdog, kelp. All of them contribute in a different way to the functioning of the environment.
Also home to other various sea life with different roles, kelp earns its spot on the report card through its vital role in California’s oceans.
Growing between 25 to 30 meters deep with a seven-year lifespan, kelp not only helps the wildlife it homes, but it “plays a significant role in mitigating climate change,” according to the report card.
Sea otters, as pictured on Feb. 6, are featured on the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Marine Species Report Card. Photo Credit: Justin Enriquez
The report, according to Kareiva, hopes to highlight the need to monitor species for proper intervention, like the plant-eating marine snails, white abalone.
White abalones are currently being watched due to their declining population. Abalones are often eaten by the endangered southern sea otters, causing an impact on their population.
“They’ve gotten so rare that it’s even hard to get data,” Kareiva said. “The way they look for them now is often unmanned ROV robotic vehicles.”
Previously, southern sea otters were once hunted to extinction for their fur. Now, their population has grown from 35 to around 3,000, according to Brett Long, the aquarium’s vice president of animal care.
With Long’s help, the aquarium partnered with Monterey Bay Aquarium in 2020 for a sea otter surrogacy program. Since the species are habitual learners and need around-the-clock care, adult female otters foster otter pups in Monterey Bay before being released back into the wild.
“My nephews were born very early: twins,” Long said, speaking about his family. “When I went in to help my sister take care of them I was like, ‘Boy, this feels, this is familiar.’”
Through the help and care of both aquariums, six otter pups have been released back into the wild, properly equipped to care for themselves and teach following generations.
Part of what makes conservation efforts succeed is community efforts, according to Staci Wong, who has been working as an interpretation manager at the aquarium for 17 years.
Her role is to educate attendees on the ocean and inspire curiosity.
Educators at the Aquarium of the Pacific, like Staci Wong, provide information about their marine species and the efforts being made to help animals such as sea otters. Photo Credit: Justin Enriquez
“I think one of the most important things when you talk about conservation and caring for the public is you want to make sure that it’s accessible,” Wong said.
The Aquarium of the Pacific’s Marine Species Report Card project seeks to utilize education to spark public attention to wildlife conservation throughout Long Beach and the West Coast.
To learn more about the local marine community, and check out the full report card, check out the aquarium’s interactive website.
