Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation
Programs
Program 1 [2020]
Animal Care and Aquarium Experience - Marine life exhibition and care expenses of $41,268,354 include the cost of operating and maintaining the Aquarium's living exhibit galleries - critical work that continued despite the Aquarium's closure. Keeping our animals safe and ensuring they're well cared for remained our top priority. Our essential team of aquarists, aviculturists, veterinary specialists, and technicians worked hard to provide the best possible care for nearly 80,000 animals and plants while adhering to strict safety standards to prevent the spread of COVID-19 - like maintaining social distance and donning masks sewn by our volunteers. Bringing the Aquarium online With our doors closed, we found new ways to keep audiences connected to the animals and exhibits. Social media has become a source of information, entertainment, education, stress relief, fundraising, and connection for more people, and with a greater geographic reach than ever. -Through website stories, video livestreams, and live virtual events we've given audiences a behind-the-scenes look at how we care for the Aquarium animals and exhibits. A few, like a video of divers cleaning the Kelp Forest exhibit and a Tik Tok dance video with an albatross were among our most popular posts of the year - and prompted an outpouring of comments from people who couldn't wait to come back for a visit. -Without guests inside the Aquarium, we were able to give rescued sea otter pups destined for a return to the wild the unique opportunity to practice their diving skills in the larger Sea Otter exhibit space. Audiences around the world watched the sea otter pups frolic through our live sea otter webcam. -During Black Birders Week we collaborated with scientists from BlackAFinSTEM for a virtual bird watching session on our Aviary live cam. Black Birders Week events highlight Black nature enthusiasts and increase the visibility of Black birders, who face unique challenges and dangers when engaging in outdoor activities. During the memorable 90-minute session, the group admired shorebirds in our Aviary exhibit and shared stories about their birdwatching adventures, what kindled their love of birds, and how they began their professional science careers. -We continued our ongoing relationship with California State Parks with an exciting livestream that took viewers on a journey above and below a kelp forest habitat as part of an ongoing series of educational streams led by the park system. The two hosts - one in a kayak at Point Lobos State Reserve and the other diving in our Kelp Forest exhibit - were able to talk to each other during the stream as well as answer questions from a moderator. Recreating deep-sea conditions for our next special exhibition Thanks to the wonderful support of the Grainger Family Descendants Fund, we continued work to develop our upcoming special exhibition, Into the Deep: Exploring Our Undiscovered Ocean. By building on decades of animal care expertise at the Aquarium - plus the knowledge and technology offered by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) - our visitors will experience a breathtaking look at deep sea life found nowhere else, save for the actual deep sea, when the exhibition opens in Spring 2022. In December and January, the Aquarium's Animal Care and Interpretive Media teams embarked on two multi-day expeditions with our colleagues at MBARI to Sur Ridge, a magnet for diverse marine life in both midwater and seafloor habitats. The goal for the trips aboard the R/V Western Flyer was to capture video footage and collect midwater drifters and seafloor dwellers with potential for display in the new special exhibition. Targeted species for collection, such as the colorful bloody-belly comb jelly, thrive in waters with low oxygen, requiring a custom life support system to replicate these conditions. Skillful ROV pilots used the robot's manipulator arm to gingerly place specimens onboard the "benthic elevator," which in turn gracefully floated to the surface for retrieval by awaiting scientists. Promoting racial diversity in veterinary science To promote more racial diversity in the veterinary profession, we launched our "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Matter: Veterinary Externship" program. Most accredited veterinary schools require a two- to four-week externship away from the university during the students' third or fourth year of professional training. We designed our program to recruit students from under-represented groups, especially students of color. We selected the first three individuals to participate in the program in 2021.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2020 – Dec 31, 2020Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$41.3MProgram 2 [2020]
Education and Outreach expenses of $15,284,738 include the cost of education programs for teachers, students, and emerging teen leaders. Typically, the Aquarium welcomes more than 100,000 classroom students, teachers and chaperones every year - free of charge. Undeterred by the global pandemic, our Education team transformed the vision for our Bechtel Family Center for Ocean Education and Leadership when they rapidly created a suite of virtual ocean science programs - in English and Spanish - to serve stay-at-home students and their parents across the country. We began hosting virtual Aquarium field trips and workshops for teachers, which will continue until we can again welcome students and educators in person. Transforming our education programs -Drawing on their experience with distance learning and a commitment to ecosystem-based learning, our Education staff developed nine free online courses, in English and Spanish, that serve kids from pre-kindergarten through high school. The video courses - on topics from sea otters, the deep sea, tide pools, sharks, and more - blend on-screen curriculum with experiences in nature. Tens of thousands of students across the country have enrolled in the multi-day courses - from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. -Unable to offer our in-person field trips due to the closure, our Education team instead brought the Aquarium to students through the new Online Discovery Labs. The virtual field trip programs were popular with teachers - all 324 programs for 2020 sold out within six hours of opening for reservations. The labs include an engaging 45-minute Zoom interaction with an Education team member and an additional multi-chapter online learning course that expands on the content and includes activities students can do in class and at home. -In November, approximately 100 teachers engaged in a new online professional development course, "Nature Nearby." During the four-week program, teachers participated in live, online sessions with Education staff and completed a series of self-paced online courses where they used nature journaling and science notebooks. Teachers experienced authentic, standards-based activities focused on ocean conservation that are easily transferable to students, whether they're learning at home or at school. -Four alumni of Aquarium teen programs Young Women in Science (YWS), Teen Conservation Leader (TCL) and Watsonville Area Teens Conserving Habitats (WATCH) participated in summer internships with the Aquarium focused on ocean advocacy and online education programming. Two interns researched and identified strategies for engaging youth from diverse backgrounds and motivating them to take action on ocean conservation. Their findings are being incorporated into the Aquarium's teen and young adult programs to help engage youth from diverse backgrounds in our advocacy initiatives. The other two interns revamped aspects of our most popular education programs, piloted them with teen and teacher audiences, and helped staff recreate these activities on online platforms.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2020 – Dec 31, 2020Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$15.3MProgram 3 [2020]
Conservation and Science costs of $8,029,483 represent expenses for marine policy and advocacy efforts, the Seafood Watch program and field research. Our ocean conservation and science work has never been more important. Climate change, plastic pollution, unsustainable seafood production, and marine habitat degradation - crises facing people and the living systems we depend on - are tightly connected to issues of social and racial equity, the economy, and public health. We champion solutions that safeguard the ocean, help communities thrive, and lead us into a brighter future. Our science-based markets strategy for global seafood and aquaculture, anchored by our Seafood Watch program, is improving the sustainability of wild-caught fisheries and aquaculture operations around the world by engaging with local fishing and aquaculture communities around improvement plans and guiding large buyers and consumers to sustainable choices. Our scientists are producing research that fills critical knowledge gaps and helps guide important conservation decisions. And our policy team is advising and celebrating decision-makers at the state, federal, and global levels who adopt and implement regulations on behalf of ocean health. Maintaining a leadership role in the sustainable seafood movement -Seafood Watch launched a completely redesigned website that makes it easier for consumers and businesses to search our thousands of seafood recommendations. -In June, the Vietnam government formally approved the Vietnam Sustainable Shrimp Alliance, a public-private partnership announced by Monterey Bay Aquarium and 21 founding partners in October 2019. The project is working toward the goal of improving all farmed shrimp production in C Mau Province to a Seafood Watch rating as a Good Alternative or Best Choice by 2030. -With the collaborations in Vietnam achieving results, we launched a new project in India's Andhra Pradesh region to improve the production of whiteleg shrimp to a level consistent with a Seafood Watch yellow rating by 2025. India is the world's third-largest exporter of shrimp, and Andhra Pradesh produces almost 70 percent of the country's farmed shrimp - the vast majority of which is bound for the U.S. market. The collaborators, including Seafood Watch, intend to improve environmental performance as well as social and economic well-being. Sea otter research, rescue and recovery -The Sea Otter Program earned two $100,000 awards from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance grant program to continue our important work to help with the recovery of threatened southern sea otters, even as we face unprecedented challenges in light of the pandemic. -As scientists and wildlife officials work to restore California's threatened sea otter population, crab fishermen have wondered if the return of sea otters comes at the expense of the crab fishery. A new research study by Aquarium scientists suggests that may not be the case. Instead, they found that fishermen are catching more Dungeness crab in regions of California where sea otters are present. Over a decade of observations of foraging sea otters around Monterey Bay by the Aquarium and our partners have shown that Dungeness crabs represent a small fraction of more than 50 ocean species in sea otters' diets. Rather than seeing a negative impact of otters on the Dungeness crab fishery, these crabs seem to be doing just as well, if not better, in areas where otters are present compared to regions without otters. Advancing ocean-friendly policies at the state, national and international level -Despite the unprecedented challenges of 2020, we made progress with policies - at the state and federal levels - to reduce the sources of ocean plastic pollution. In California, we teamed with The Nature Conservancy and Oceana to successfully work to end the temporary suspension of California's plastic bag ban, which was instituted in April due to COVID-19 health concerns. -From mid-September through Election Day, we ran a voter outreach campaign with the tagline, "The Ocean Needs Your Vote." The campaign aimed to increase voter registration and turnout, and raise public awareness of how the civic process can make a difference for ocean health. AdvocaSea, a youth-led collaboration that grew out of an Aquarium internship project, ran a "Get Out the Youth Vote" social media campaign while learning more about how their raised voices can help protect the ocean. Each week, the group met virtually and created content to encourage voter registration, particularly for first-time voters. -In 2020, new leadership in Washington, D.C. made it a priority to address climate change and ocean health. Our team was tapped to offer insights on ways to make a real difference - by relying on science, bolstering ocean protections, and embracing solutions that connect ocean health with racial equity and environmental justice. Advancing conservation science -A new study led by the Monterey Bay Aquarium scientists took a critical step toward conserving sharks by answering key questions about illegal shark finning. The global shark fin trade is a $400 million business that kills as many as 100 million sharks each year with devastating consequences for shark populations and ocean ecosystems. Using results from DNA barcoding studies of shark fins traded in worldwide markets and in-depth knowledge of each species' environmental niche, the researchers discovered that most shark fins were harvested from waters controlled by individual countries rather than in high-seas fisheries outside national boundaries. Their data also confirmed that the global hunt for fins kills a greater variety of species than researchers previously thought. -Leilani Konrad, California Sea Grant Fellow with Conservation & Science, completed a review of scientific studies that shows how species in our living collection are being impacted by climate change. Prompted by a Guest Experience request to enhance science-based storytelling with our visitors, this database can grow as we learn more about how climate change is affecting our exhibit animals and the ecosystems where they live. -A team led by Aquarium researchers used a new high-tech approach to conservation science that helps biologists identify and replicate successful approaches for returning threatened and endangered species to the wild - saving time, money, and wildlife. In the published study, the scientists used the power of artificial intelligence and an algorithmic approach to rapidly analyze text in scientific papers. The team was able to quickly and efficiently identify approaches to species reintroduction that have proved successful while avoiding those that are dead ends. Addressing the pandemic through policy -Working with other national and California-based nonprofits, we advocated for additional federal and state-based emergency relief funding to help aquariums impacted by the pandemic. -We worked in Monterey County to advance the state's Health Equity Metric, released on September 30, which aims to ensure that the areas of the county disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 - predominantly Latinx neighborhoods - were not left behind. We worked across all sectors to promote a community-driven approach to addressing the crisis and also urged the state to focus resources in Monterey County.GeographiesNot indicatedDatesJan 1, 2020 – Dec 31, 2020Source990No causes providedNo populations provided–$8M
Copyright 2026. All rights reserved to Chario Inc. (d.b.a. Impala)