2010 - the International Year of Biodiversity - how are we doing?

This week, some 16,000 scientists, natural resource managers, advocates and politicians are gathered in Nagoya, Japan for the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10)  to the Convention on Biodiversity (see http://www.cbd.int/cop10/).  This is a particularly auspicious meeting in many respects. 
Some of you may recall from my blog last February (see http://sealifeceo.blogspot.com/2010/02/2010-international-biodiversity-year.html), that 2010 was declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Biodiversity.  As such it is the culimination of many years of global programs designed to accelerate the rate of biodiversity conservation and/or reduce threats to biodiversity.  I was involved in the design of several of those initiatives over the preceding decade (see http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/307/5707/212) and so am particularly interested in checking in on the outcomes of that work.

To help with that assessment, a paper was published in Science yesterday by dozens of  leading biologists - see www.sciencexpress.org / 26 October 2010 / Page 1 / 10.1126/science.1194442. The paper draws largely from the increasingly comprehensive IUCN Red List which now has data on nearly 28,000 species.  The results show a continuing downward trend in the diversity of life on earth.  For example, nearly one fifth of all vertebrate species are threatened  ranging from 13% of birds to 41% of amphibians.  One mammal is thought to have gone extinct (the Yangtze River dolphin) in the past 10 years, making it the first such megafauna species loss since the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s.

Not surprisingly, conservation programs have clearly been most effective in developed countries, but are still barely adequate to keep pace with major threats such as habitat loss, invasive species and climate change.  Of particular interest to programs at the Alaska SeaLife Center have been global efforts to reduce some fishing impacts on marine mammals and seabirds.  The recovery of the humpback whale is cited as a particularly successful, but rare, example of effective international efforts.

Reading this paper and the daily reports from Nagoya, it is clear that much needs to be done if our children are to enjoy the same diversity of life on earth that we have experienced.  I welcome your thoughts on what more the Alaska SeaLife Center might do to promote greater stewardship of species under immediate threat as well as those species that we all depend on for our long term well being.

To See Ourselves as Others Might: Snapshot of 2010 Visitor Survey

This year we again took the pulse of our summer visitors to explore what they liked or disliked and to learn a little more about their expectations and experience.  Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey!  Of the 144 visitors randomly surveyed, 90% were from the USA with 10% international.  The most common States of visitor origin were Alaska, followed by California, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Ohio and Texas.  Unlike 2009,when 30% of our participants in the survey were repeat visitors, this year 88% of our visitors were first time visitors... we believe that reflects the strong growth in independent travel to Alaska this summer as well as the inclement weather that was experienced throughout the summer (causing more visitors to seek "all weather" experiences).  Our summer overall visitation was up nearly 16% over 2009 (but still down some 15% from 2008 numbers).

Some key findings about our visitors:

Evidently our tourism brochures and "word of mouth" advertizing (through hotel and tourism networks or friends and relatives) are key to atracting new visitors to the center.  With Lexie Mizeras as our new VP or Marketing and Philanthropy, we'll continue to further evaluate additional marketing options in the year ahead - for example, our social media membership increased by >300% in 2010... how might that help visitor marketing in 2011?

It is always interesting to assess what role a major destination such as the Alaska SeaLife Center plays in the regional tourism economy.

These data reaffirm the economic significance of the SeaLife Center to Seward and the South Central Alaska tourism industry generally and reinforce casual feedback from guests about the value of having the Center so conveniently located to the majority of Alaska's population and visitor pathways.

Most Enjoyed:

This graph shows the most popular exhibits and reinforces the importance of live animals to the visitor experience.  Interestingly, visitors this year also mentioned more than 25 other elements of their experience specifically (from Puffin encounters to OTK Exhibit) which gives a good sense of the diversity of attractions that the Center has for different audiences.  Equally significantly 82% of visitors did not identify anything about their experience that they disliked!  The only aspect of visitor experience that was mentioned more than once as a 'dislike" was the early closure of our cafe!  We are currently evaluating how we might expand that service in 2012.

Want to See

We again asked visitors what they would most like to see in future visits to the SeaLife Center.  Not surprisingly, sea otters were most frequently mentioned, followed by whales and interactive exhibits.  That feedback continues to guide medium term exhibit and capital development planning - stay tuned!

Visitor Perception of the Condition of Alaska's Seas

This year we also sought to assess the impact of our exhibits on visitors.  While the data are only preliminary, it was interesting to see, how people perceive the condition of Alaska's marine ecosystems before and after their visit.  Clearly our messages about Alaska's sustainable fisheries management programs and other aspects of marine stewardship have an impact on their perception!  At the same time, 75% of visitors expressed concern for the (current and potential) impacts of climate change on Alaska's seas so there is evidently a strong undercurrent of concern for the future condition of Alaska's seas. Equally interesting was their feedback about specific new knowledge they had obtained as a result of their visit - respondents cited more than 30 new "factoids" ranging from biology (how to distinguish puffin species) to behavior (how sea urchins "give hugs").

Finally, we asked visitors to sum up the 'value for money' of their experience at the Center - the results were a very encouraging reinforcement of our mission efforts to "generate and share scientific knowledge to promote understanding and stewardship of Alaska’s marine ecosystems".

In the year ahead we will continue customer surveys to better understand our visitors (and non visitors) and what more we might do to broaden our visitor base and ensure the effectiveness of our messaging - those results will be used to guide marketing, education and stewardship programs - we welcome your ongoing feedback.

Getting Ready for A Whale's Tale

The movie "Everybody Loves Whales" is currently being filmed in Alaska (see http://www.adn.com/2010/06/11/1319289/hollywood-comes-to-alaska-to-shoot.html).  Filming moves down to the Alaska SeaLife Center later this week and so as part of our annual maintenance cycle and in preparation for the film crew, we have temporarily drained our large sea lion exhibit and are working on cleaning the acrylic windows and some minor renovations to the rock work.

It is a rare sight to see Woody temporarily displaced from this window by our hardworking facilities and husbandry team and so I thought you'd enjoy seeing just what it takes to maintain our exhibits from the inside perspective!  We completed the same task last year in the harbor seal exhibit and the results were outstanding.  I'm looking forward to seeing how this exhibit appears once it receives "the Hollywood treatment"!

For anyone planning a visit to Seward this week, please note that all galleries will be closed on Friday 8th October, however the gift shop will remain open and we'll be open as usual on Saturday at 10 am - we regret any inconvenience.