What Constitutes "Meaningful Public Education"?

On April 27th, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Committee conducted an oversight hearing into "Marine Mammals in Captivity: What Constitutes Meaningful Public Education?".
This topic has become topical in recent years due to efforts by some organizations to downplay the longstanding role that zoos, aquariums and other research and public display centers play in promoting public understanding of ocean life. The debate came into even sharper focus with the recent publication of an article in Society & Animals 18 (2010) 126-138 (see http://www.animalsandsociety.org/resources/index.php?pid=87&tpid=22). That article was critical of one of the benchmark studies to evaluate the impact of aquaria on visitor education (that report is available from http://www.aza.org/visitor-and-public-research/).

As ranking committee member, Congressman Don Young from Alaska noted in his remarks during the hearing, aquariums do indeed play a significant role in shaping understanding of marine life, particularly give the increasingly urban nature of modern society. As a former educator, he noted that his measure of success was that… “If I can encourage one young mind to begin to think, then I have accomplished my goal”. He went on to note that visiting aquaria generates an increased curiosity for marine species and that can play an influential role in education. Congressman Young’s full remarks can be viewed on http://donyoung.house.gov/.
I have no doubt that we meet that standard each and every day. The feedback we receive from our visitors (of all ages and backgrounds) routinely suggests that we do indeed provide them with an understanding of life in the oceans which is unique and valued and which motivates them to value our oceans more.
However, we also understand the importance of demonstrating the value to society of the privilege we are afforded in being able to maintain animals for display and for research and so I tracked this week’s hearing with great interest. The full testimony presented by eight panelists is available from the Committee website: http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.php?option=com_jcalpro&Itemid=60&extmode=view&extid=348.
The comments by new National Marine Fisheries Service Assistant Administrator, Eric Schwaab, were particularly insightful. He noted that… “NMFS acknowledges that there are many different ways to educate the public about marine mammal conservation. Approximately 100 facilities hold marine mammals for public display purposes and each facility has tailored its education and conservation programs to serve particular audiences within the constraints of available resources. To create a “one size fits all” approach to educating the public fails to embrace the need to craft current and meaningful messages utilizing the many different educational resources available”.

Clearly there are a range of perspectives on how best to educate the public about ocean life and that divergence of viewpoints reinforces our commitment to exceed all regulatory standards and industry best practices and to ensure that there is a clear line of sight between our research, education and stewardship activities.

I hope that our visitors will continue to be patient with our staff as we again survey visitors in 2010 to better understand how we affect people’s knowledge, behavior and attitudes…. and please – don’t be backward in letting us know what your visit to the Center meant to you!

UAF SFOS Advisory Council Meeting - Fairbanks 17-18 April

2010 SFOS Advisory Council members (left to right): Jim Balsiger, Margaret Williams, Jay Stinson, Ian Dutton, David Policansky (chair), Heather McCarty (vice-chair), Bruce Bustamante, Arliss Sturgulewski, Jim McCarthy, Cynthia Jones, Knut Aagaard and Eric Olson.  (photo courtesy : Carin Stephens, UAF-SFOS)

I recently had the privilege to join a distinguished group of colleagues at the Annual meeting of the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (SFOS) Advisory Council which was held in Fairbanks.  The SFOS Advisory Council brings together a diverse group of stakeholders in marine science, education and management and provides advice to the Dean and faculty as well as an annual report to the Chancellor of UAF.

This year's meeting provided a chance to reflect on the many accomplishments of the School over the past year, including:

• approval of final funding of the new Arctic R/V Sikuliaq - now being built at the Marinette shipyard in Wisconsin
• receipt of >$25 million in new research awards which is around 20% of all UAF research awards
• hosting of the 12th annual Tsunami Bowl competition in Seward with 16 teams participating
• a dramatic increase (116%) increase in undergraduate fisheries student enrolments
• addition of six new Faculty in 2009

Additional recent accomplishments are described on the SFOS website (http://www.sfos.uaf.edu/) - clearly this is a vibrant and progressive program with a tremendous future given the rapidly expanding and ever changing needs for improved marine science in Alaska.

The Council was saddened to learn of the impending (mid 2010) resignation of SFOS Dean, Denis Wiesenburg.  Denis is returning to his home State to become the University of Southern Mississippi's Vice President for Research.  Denis also serves on the ASLC Board and many other committees that I work with and so his departure represents a major loss to many institutions beyond UAF.  I was pleased to be able to join Denis and his wife Jean together with many SFOS faculty at a wonderful send-off dinner during which we all had the chance to acknowledge his amazing accomplishments over the past six years... and chasten him for leaving at such a critical juncture in SFOS's evolution!

The Council wrapped up our meeting by providing a range of inputs to the UAF Chancellor on key issues facing the school - an obvious priority  is to find a new Dean quickly so as to sustain the momentum that Denis and other senior Faculty have built. 

We look forward to working with whoever moves into that key role.

Earth Day 2010: 4 for 40

Earth Day 4 for 40 Poster and Coastal America Staff at Congressional Casting Day

(photo courtesy Virginia Tippie, Director Coastal America)

Hard to believe that this year marked the 40th Earth Day!  One of the activities we undertook was to share the beautiful Earth Day poster developed by the Coastal America Partnership (http://www.coastalamerica.gov/).  The "4 for 40" Poster promotes a  "rivers to the sea" watershed theme. The poster was developed by the Coastal America Southeast Team, EPA, CWRP and CH2MHill. It encourages folks to get involved and commit to 4 things for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.


The poster also directs folks to the Coastal America website which has 3 Earth Day related links:
1. The "4 for 40 poster" link includes Earth Day related activities, a pledge site, an interactive testimonials site and a kids hemisphere site.
2. The "Learning Center Network" link directs people to our network of aquariums and science centers (of which the Alaska SeaLife Center is a member) to learn more about Planet Ocean and how to get involved in learning center activities.
3. The "Oceans" link connects folks to clips from the new Disney Oceans Documentary that was released for Earth Day, educational materials and ocean information sources such as NOAA and other science organizations.
We'll continue to use the poster and related Coastal America materials on watershed-marine links going forward - stay tuned to the Oceans Today Kiosk that we expect to open in  late May. 

ASLC joins AMMPA

I was delighted to join Brett Long (ASLC Director of Husbandry) this week to attend the Annual Meeting of the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA) held in Alexandria, VA. 

AMMPA is an international association representing more than 60 marine life parks, aquariums, zoos, research facilities, and professional organizations dedicated to the highest standards of care for marine mammals and to their conservation in the wild through public education, scientific study, and wildlife presentations - see http://www.ammpa.org/ for full details of the membership and work of AMMPA.

At the meeting, we made a presentation to secure membership of AMMPA and we were one of four new members provisionally accepted at the 2010 meeting.  Members were particularly impressed by our strong research and education programs as well as our high standards of animal care.

The next step in the process is for the Center to be visited by a  team of AMMPA inspectors who will undertake a thorough review of our facilities, systems, practices and staff capacity to ensure we meet their demanding standards - we must complete that process before the next AMMPA Annual Meeting in April 2011. 

This is a key step in our long-term commitment to continually meet global best practice standards in all areas of center operations - our standards are already high, but through the AMMPA network we have the opportunity to more actively engage with our many peers in the aquarium industry and to contribute our unique skills and experience.  At the meeting, Brett and I held numerous sidebar meetings with many of the 90+ industry leaders in attendance who work on Alaska marine mammals and it was clear there is much interest in working more closely with us!

Please let Brett or myself know if you'd like to know more about AMMPA or our overall accreditation processes. 

Spring at the Shedd

A glorious spring day in Chicago - even Lake Michigan seemed to sparkle more than usual!  And that weather really bought people out in their thousands to enjoy the Shedd aquarium and other foreshore attractions. 

A day like today helped me understand why the Shedd attracts >2 million visitiors per year.. or >5,000/day on average... today must have been double that!

And as much as that speaks to the influence of nice weather and spring breaks, that high level of visitation is also a testament to the enduring attractiveness of this amazing national institution.  One of the first major public aquariums in the US -- the Shedd opened in 1930 -- the aquarium has undergone some major renovations and is again in the middle of  a major capital campaign to ugrade the oceanarium. 

It was a pleasure to walk around and absorb the power of aquaria to reach such large numbers of people from all walks of life in ways that are truly inspiring.  I stood next to a child mesmerized by penguins flying underwater mere inches from their hands.  I watched crowds watching divers watching animals.  I listened to mothers admonishing belugas for swimming too fast to photograph and fathers cheering the antics of sea otters. 

It was particularly interesting for me to see how Shedd blends media and experiences from the very traditional to the cutting edge (4D!) - that diversity clearly adds vibrancy to the institution and helps the bottom line stay buoyant.

Clearly the Shedd lives up to its mission:

At Shedd Aquarium, animals connect you to the living world, inspiring you to make a difference (http://www.sheddaquarium.org/) .

Lots of lessons for me to bring back to the SeaLife Center - I'll present additional observations at the next Senior Management Team and Board meetings.

Oh... and why was I there?  I stopped by at Shedd to meet with their President, Ted Beattie and senior staff to discuss further collaboration under the Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center network under which we are developing proposals to link our education and research efforts - stay tuned for further news on that nascent partnership...