Creating the exhibits - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 203

Getting ready to bring the first wharf pilings in to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
(Photo © 2000 Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation. All rights reserved.)
We dove down and selected the eight best-looking pilings from the
ten we'd originally saved. After removing the stainless steel bands we
attached floats to each end of the first one and slowly towed it over to
the boat-launching ramp. We backed the boat trailer down into the
water and floated the piling on top of it, being careful not to crush any
animals. The piling was then covered with sacks wet with seawater to
keep the animals alive for the short drive down Cannery Row to the
aquarium. There, it was hoisted up, lowered into the Monterey Bay
tank, and towed over to its final position.
The laborious task of moving one piling at a time took several days
and the combined work of the two collectors, eight aquarists, and my-
self. It was a tricky job, but the final result looked fantastic—almost
like it does when you dive under the wharf. The big di¤erence was that
the water in our exhibit was a lot clearer than the often murky plank-
ton-rich water in the harbor.