Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
realm accessible to visitors through approximately 200 galleries and exhibits dedi-
cated to the area's diverse habitats. But beyond a visual experience, Monterey Bay
Aquarium is also committed to inspiring and empowering its visitors to conserve
the world's oceans.
This ideal stems from both the aquarium's founders and from the area's rich
fishing heritage. The aquarium was built on the former site of the Hovden Cannery
located on historic Cannery Row (made famous by author John Steinbeck's novel
of the same name) (Plate 17.1). Cannery Row was a centre of processing for the
Pacific sardine fishery that landed an average of more than 600 000 tonnes per
season (Wolf 1992) at the height of the fisheries' boom in the late 1930s to the
mid-1940s. A few decades later, the fish disappeared. The collapse was attributed
to oceanographic trends and overfishing. As a result, most canneries closed and the
'Sardine Capital of the World' became a ghost town. By canning squid, Hovden
Cannery managed to stay open the longest, but it finally closed in 1973.
In 1977 four marine scientists from Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station
located on Monterey Bay proposed the development of an aquarium to highlight
the area's biodiversity. Together with local residents and members of the David
and Lucile Packard Foundation the project was pursued, and in 1984 the Monterey
Bay Aquarium opened its doors for the first time. The aquarium integrated some
of the original Hovden Cannery architecture, and the entry features the towering
boilers once used for canning fish. This exhibit shares the plight of the Cannery
Row community whose lives were greatly affected by the interruption of the area's
balanced ecosystem. As visitors move through the many galleries of the aquarium,
they are instilled with a sense of awe and, we hope, are inspired to take action
on behalf of the oceans so that future generations can enjoy once again the many
marine wonders and natural resources of Monterey Bay.
However, the aquarium's mission goes beyond the traditional role of generating
awareness among the 1.8 million visitors each year; we also aim to transform these
would-be consumers and businesses within our collective sphere of influence to
become ocean advocates. The aquarium's most successful and popular initiative
for activating the public is the Seafood Watch programme.
The Seafood Watch programme was established in response to a public outpour-
ing of support during the temporary
Fishing for Solutions
R
exhibit (Plate 17.2).
To many visitors, it was the first time they had heard of terms such as 'overfishing'
and 'bycatch'. The statistics were alarming, such as '25 percent of the world's catch
is discarded overboard' but as the title of the exhibit demonstrated, there were so-
lutions. Moving beyond shock value, the exhibit featured attempts made by fishers,
scientists and resource managers to minimise the impacts of commercial fishing on
the environment. The exhibit also emphasised that some methods of fishing were
more environmentally friendly than others, and introduced the concept of reducing
the demand for seafood from unsustainable sources. This concept also prompted
the aquarium to look internally at our own seafood consumption. What most aquar-
ium visitors didn't realise was that the aquarium purchased hundreds of pounds
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