Buy4 Alaska Sealife Center (please)

I'm delighted to announce that the Alaska SeaLife Center is now an official partner with Buy4.com - an internet shopping portal that enables participating retailers to rebate a portion of each dollar spent to the charity of your choice... which we hope will be the Alaska SeaLife Center! 

You can make a major difference to our research, wildlife rescue and education programs by supporting us with your online purchases - at no extra cost to you!

Some key FAQs from Buy4.com

What is Buy4.com?
Buy4 has a relationship with hundreds of online vendors who have agreed to give back a portion of their sales so you can support your favorite cause (us).

Do I need to register to use Buy4.com?
No. Registration is optional, but encouraged. It allows for enhanced features, including tracking your donations, saving your preferences, and receiving optional Buy4 newsletters.

What types of causes can be supported through Buy4.com?
Buy4.com works with nonprofits, schools, and associations. The Alaska SeaLife Center has a dedicated page and partnership with Buy4.com - check us out!

What can I purchase through Buy4.com?
Almost everything. You can buy books, DVDs, furniture and household items, send gifts, plan travel, choose a cell phone, sign up for a credit card, apply for a mortage, etc.

Does it cost any more to shop through Buy4.com?
No. You can even save money with special deals and coupons from participating merchants.

Do you charge organizations to participate?
No. Buy4 is a free service for organizations like us.

How does Buy4 make money?
Buy4 are paid by merchants when you make a purchase on their site. So, they are only successful when your cause (us) receives support.

We are pleased to be able to offer this option for your support and respectfully request you to select the Alaska SeaLife Center as your charity of choice at Buy4.com. Go to http://buy4.com/causes to start!

Congratulations to Dr Mike Castellini - new Dean School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, UAF

Dr Mike Castellini (front row 2nd from left) with the UAF SFOS Advisory Council

(photo by Carin Bailey Stephens)

We were delighted to receive the news earlier this month that Dr Mike Castellini has been appointed as Dean of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Science (SFOS) at UAF.  Mike is the third Dean in the history of the school and has been interim Dean since mid 2010.  Full details of Mike's background and service at UAF can be found on the SFOS website - http://www.sfos.uaf.edu/news/story/?ni=375.  The Alaska SeaLife Center has a close relationship with Mike - he served as our foundation Director of Science and maintains a strong working relationship with staff here.

I had the pleasure to spend last weekend with Dean Castellini and other SFOS faculty.  The School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Advisory Council met in Anchorage to provide input on a range of issues facing the School as well as to hear about recent developments and progress with various initiatives such as the new Artctic Research Vessel, Sikuliaq.  It was terrific to be able to work with the Dean so early in his tenure to learn more of his vision and identify areas where we could jointly help maintain the tremendous momentum that the school has generated over the past decade and so realize the enormous potential of the School.  Given the increasing significance of fisheries and ocean sciences in Alaska and the Arctic generally it is evident that the School will continue to play a major role in the Alaskan economy and education system. 

As a long term partner of the School, we look forward to working with Mike in his new role.  We are very fortunate in having Dr Tuula Hollmen (our interim Director of Science and a UAF Faculty member) working with him and other SFOS and UAF faculty to develop a new framework for our collaboration that we hope to finalize by mid 2011 - stay tuned!

Helping Our Aquarium and Zoo Friends in Japan

I was a Matsumae Fellow at Nihon University in Japan in 1990 and had the great pleasure to get to know Japan from an insiders perspective. It is truly beautiful country with a fascinating  history and an enchanting culture. My host at Nihon U, Dr. Kenji Hotta and his wife Hirome, visited us in Alaska just two weeks ago and came down to Seward with me – along the way we stopped to kenbutsu (sightsee) the amazing scenery of Turnagain Arm and inevitably found ourselves talking about the 1964 Alaskan earthquake that changed so many lives and landscapes here.

It was hard to believe that just a few days later, the same type of devastation was unleashed by an earthquake of similar magnitude (9.0) in Japan. Fortunately Kenji and Hirome and their families are safe, but our deepest sympathy goes out to the hundreds of Japanese communities who have been impacted by the quake, the tsunamis and now radiation leaks.

Devastation of the Seward waterfront after the 1964 tsunami

As Seward residents know all too well, natural disasters have both immediate and a longer term impacts that literally can take decades to recover from. From my office window at low tide I can still see the jagged foundations of the old rail dock that was ripped apart by the tsunami and the subsequent fires that destroyed Seward’s waterfront in 1964. For many years the dock wreckage and empty waterfront symbolized the terrible human toll and economic loss that the 64 earthquake and tsunami wreaked upon Seward. Many residents tell me that it was not until the SeaLife Center opened in 1998 that they felt a sense of peace had been restored and that there was scope for optimism about the future of the City. However, I also appreciate that for many folks the healing process is never complete.

Aerial view of Seward after the 1964 tsunami (photo from USGS)

Watching the media coverage of the Japan tsunami aftermath, I get a  strong sense that the people there are still living through the worst of that disaster and so have been wondering how best to help them to recover from this disaster.  But like many of you, I am unsure of how best to help. We have made donations to Red Cross through their tremendous SMS facility, but I wanted to do more.  I was therefore delighted today to receive news from the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquaria (of which ASLC is a new member) about a new World Association of Zoos and Aquaria (WAZA) initiative to help three Japanese zoos and aquaria that have been destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami.

The impressive Fukushima aquarium on the coast of Japan, in Iwaki city (the 10th largest city in Japan and is about 100 miles north east of Tokyo) - now largely wrecked...
WAZA mentions that Mr. Kazutoshi Takami of Osaka Municipal Tennoji Zoological Gardens informed them of the following facilities affected:

“Fukushima aquarium flooded to the second floor. All the staff were evacuated at third floor. Life support system was broken down, and fishes died off. But marine mammals are still alive.
Sendai Marinpia Matsushima aquarium was completely-flooded but miraculously no human damage. We do not have any updated information about them.
Sendai Yagiyama Zoo estimates a shortage of feeding stuff. The power is out in Sendai city. JAZA office is trying to coordinate suitable arrangements.”
"Some affected zoos and aquariums are suffering from shortage of gas, fuel for heater, food and drinking water for both humans and animals. JAZA is considering concrete measures to send feeding stuff to Sendai Yagiyama Zoo. Fukushima aquarium will move their sea mammals and birds to Kamogawa Sea World. Kamogawa will send some vehicles to Fukushima tomorrow. After completion of shipping, staff of Fukushima aquarium will get out of the facility, because they can nothing to do without any feeding stuff and fuel, in addition they have to be concerned about radiation from the atomic power plant. It is most important for us to secure the adequate means of transport.”

WAZA has created a donate function on its Web site: www.waza.org/en/site/get-involved/donate-for-japan.  Funds will be used to feed and care for animals as well as transport them to other aquariums as needed. Donations are made in Swiss francs; note the acronym CHF in the box. For example, if you are in the U.S. and put $50 as the amount you wish to give, you will be charged $53 on your credit cards at today’s (3/16/11) exchange rate.

I encourage all ASLC members and partners to support our Japanese friends via this WAZA initiative.

Volunteering for Oiled Wildlife Response

Mrs Dutton being assisted to put on her protective equipment as part of the

Hazwoper component of the Annual IWR training

Ever wanted to be one of those folks who helps with wildlife response in the event of an oil spill?  Seems simple, eh?
Well, like a lot of things in life, what began for many of us as something we would just jump in and do because it was the right thing to do has become a bit more complicated over the years.  The example I am most familiar with was in my youth as a boy scout where we'd do all sorts of community service projects (usually the gross litter pick up work that adults seemed  averse to) unsupervised.  Nowdays, its rare to see scouts doing anything without lots of supervision and protection.  And that seems a pretty good analogy for the training I went through with my wife and about 40 other keen volunteers at the BP Center at the weekend - we joined the International Wildlife Research/Alyeska/SERVS training program on care and rehabilitation of oiled sea otters. 
Both Karla and I had been involved in oil spill incident responses many years ago, but under OSHA and Alaskan protocols for spill response were not qualified to be able to join any such response here.
The IWR team comprises scientists, veterinarians and wildlife specialists with expertise and experience in the care and rehabilitation of oiled wildlife. For more than 15 years, IWR has provided expertise for preparing and executing oil spill response operations for sea otters and other marine and terrestrial mammals - see http://www.wildliferesearch.com/.
Working with Drs Randy Davis and Terrie Williams from IWR, ASLCs Dr Pam Tuomi, Dr Catherine Berg from USFWS and Paul McDonald from Alyeska/SERVS, we completed a very intense, but immensely interesting, day of training and are now all set to be first responders at the basic operational level.  This is the kind of training one hopes to never have to use, but as the boy scout motto cautions, and the Exxon Valez spill reminds us, it really is better to "be prepared!"
It was wonderful to see such strong community interest in being first responders.  I'd encourage anyone with an interest in Alaska's amazing marine wildlife to consider undertaking the training (course details are on the IWR site).  For anyone wanting to get some hands on experience with wildlife rehabilitation, you are also most welcome to come down to Seward anytime and be a strandings program volunteer at the Center - I know Tim Lebling and our other husbandry staff would really appreciate your help!