Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Always seeking even more exciting fishes for Marineland, the col-
lecting crew made another expedition with the transport tank to San
Blas, south of Mazatlán on the mainland of Mexico. The quarry was
a pair of giant thirteen-foot sawfish ( Pristis perotteti ), which for many
years made an impressive display in the Oval Tank.
These were exciting times, and all of us were caught up in the en-
thusiasm. It was also a learning period for people destined to move
on to other places. Ken Norris completed his doctorate while at
Marineland and left to become one of the founders of Sea World in
San Diego, Sea Life Park in Hawaii, and Ocean Park in Hong Kong.
Later he became an inspiring teacher and one of the world's leading
marine mammal biologists at the University of California at Santa
Cruz. John Prescott left to become the director of the New England
Aquarium. Jerry Goldsmith hung on until Marineland's dying days
before leaving to become the corporate curator of fishes for all four
of Sea World's oceanariums.
EVOLUTION OF AN ORGANIZATION
It was interesting to watch the gradual evolution of the Marineland
organization from its exciting early days to its demise in 1987. In the
beginning, the sta¤ wasn't afraid to take risks and try new projects. As
the years passed, this attitude slowly changed and complacency set in.
Management sta¤ at Marineland seemed unable to visualize the returns
from creating new exhibits. Being fascinated by the diversity of fish
and invertebrate marine life, for example, I couldn't believe my ears
when one day I heard the general manager say: “No fish is worth more
than five bucks!” At the time, I put it down to his belief that the only
reason visitors came was to see the performing marine mammal shows.
Years later the Monterey Bay Aquarium was to show that one can achieve
overwhelming success without having a single performing mammal
show.
The gradual changes I saw at Marineland have happened at other
institutions. Management becomes cautious and less willing to take
the risks that come with innovation, focusing instead on variations of
what's worked in the past. This passiveness in turn has a profound e¤ect
Search WWH ::




Custom Search