Monterey Bay Aquarium

Marine life exhibition and care expenses of $48,369,881 include the cost of operating and maintaining the Aquarium's living exhibit galleries. Completing important infrastructure improvements: As the Aquarium nears its 40th anniversary, we've begun tackling some important infrastructure improvements. We replaced rockwork in our Kelp Forest exhibit and began replacing supports for two seawater intake pipes in Monterey Bay that have been affected by water motion, seawater corrosion, and general aging over the past four decades. Working with talented engineering and design firms, we were able to complete Kelp Forest exhibit work without removing seawater or animals. Both projects are part of many infrastructure upgrades that we're making to ensure the Aquarium remains a preeminent institution far into the future. Advances in the care and culture of deep-sea species: Our Animal Care and Water Science teams continue to perfect advanced techniques in the care, culturing, and life support for the deep-sea species featured in our newest exhibit: Into the Deep/En lo Profundo. Many of the animals in this exhibit are being displayed to the public for the very first time anywhere. Our teams' ingenuity has led to breakthroughs in raising and displaying such mesmerizing species as chandelier jellies and snowglobe jellies, These delicate animals require very specific water chemistry and temperature to survive. Our first fully bilingual exhibit: In 2022, we opened our first fully bilingual exhibit (in English and Spanish) Into the Deep/En lo Profundo for both in-person and online visitors. This helps ensure we're accessible to an increasingly diverse audience and helps families connect across generations around our exhibits and ocean conservation messages.

Conservation and Science costs of $8,753,595 represent expenses for marine policy and advocacy efforts, the Seafood Watch program, and field research. In California, we're continuing our leading role in the research, rescue, and recovery of southern sea otters. At the state and federal levels, we're advancing policies to protect vulnerable coastal habitats, reduce plastic pollution, and promote ocean-based climate solutions. Around the world, we're transforming the seafood industry by engaging seafood producers, businesses, and governments, informing seafood purchasing standards, and rating the sustainability of fishing and aquaculture practices. Using surrogacy to advance sea otter recovery: In July, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a congressionally mandated study on the feasibility of returning sea otters to areas they inhabited before fur traders hunted them to near-extinction. The study, which we played a significant role in developing, found that sea otter introduction along the U.S. West Coast is not only feasible, but would also benefit species recovery, coastal ecosystem health, and coastal communities. The study highlighted the release of surrogate-reared otters, which we developed and have used for over 20 years, as a key method of potential reintroduction efforts. We're now working to expand our surrogacy program to partner aquariums so they can use their facilities, staff, and resident sea otters to help us return more rehabilitated sea otters to the wild. In this way, we're supporting the recovery of California's coastal ecosystems - which, in turn, provide priceless natural services to humanity. Sharks, otters, and climate change: For more than two decades, Aquarium scientists and our partners have used electronic tags to track white sharks. The resulting data revealed that warmer ocean currents, driven by climate change, are drawing juvenile white sharks north into Monterey Bay. These young sharks sometimes take experimental - but fatal - bites of southern sea otters. That's affecting the otters' ability to return to more of their historical range along the California coast. This new information on sharks' changing range, along with other emerging climate science, is informing our plans for sea otter recovery - and our efforts to protect key habitats like kelp forests and eelgrass meadows in a changing ocean. Strong policies against plastic pollution: In June 2022, California enacted a first-in-the-nation bill that will reduce plastic pollution and hold companies accountable for the waste they produce. The California Plastic Pollution Producer Responsibility Act, authored by Senator Ben Allen, is regarded as the nation's toughest law regulating plastic waste. The Aquarium played a role in crafting this legislation and getting it enacted. We pushed for key provisions, including a mandate to reduce single-use plastic packaging by 25 percent by 2032. Supporting California bill to prevent mining in state waters: We sponsored a California bill to ban destructive mining of mineral deposits on the seafloor. The Seabed Mining Prevention Act, authored by Assemblymember Luz Rivas, prohibits seabed mining for hard minerals in state waters. The Aquarium helped write the bill, provided science-based testimony in support, and rallied a coalition of nonprofits and businesses behind it. The state legislature passed the bill on a unanimous, bipartisan vote, and Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law in September 2022. An equitable approach to seafood sustainability: Much of the seafood Americans eat is raised on small family-run farms in South and Southeast Asia. Our Seafood Watch program, which provides assessments and ratings on seafood sustainability across the globe, rated most of these imports as red (avoid) because of issues like overuse of antibiotics and habitat destruction. Our global team found that many small-scale farmers want to make improvements to their practices. To make the process more equitable for these family-based farmers, Seafood Watch created a pathway for small producers to assure buyers of - and potentially improve - their environmental practices through a web-based app, the Improvement Verification Platform. Our work is having an impact. Last year we substantially increased the number of small-scale farms that achieved green ratings with many more slated to reach green in 2023. Through technical innovation, we are leveling the playing field for family-run farmers so they can be recognized as sustainable and gain important access to global markets. Working to improve human rights in the seafood industry: We are committed to transforming how seafood is fished and farmed so both people and the planet can thrive for the long term. To achieve this goal, we continued our work to improve human rights in the seafood industry. We formed a social sustainability advisory group to review and advise on the integration of human rights considerations with existing environmentally focused work. We also launched an updated and improved version of the Seafood Social Risk Tool for businesses. They can use this tool to better understand human rights and labor conditions in their seafood supply chains and engage in efforts to improve them.

Education and Outreach expenses of $18,259,260 include the cost of education programs for teachers, students, and emerging teen leaders. Our commitment to offering free educational programs is stronger than ever. This past year we offered new programs and relaunched in-person programs that were placed on hold during the pandemic. Welcoming students back to field trips: After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, we excitedly welcomed thousands of students back to participate in our field trips and resumed our in-person Discovery Lab program, where students get the chance to be scientists in one of the Aquarium's Learning Labs. We continued to provide live instructor-led Online Discovery Labs for students who are unable to visit the Aquarium in person. As students explore the Aquarium and come face-to-face with the amazing animals and ecosystems of Monterey Bay and beyond, they become excited about the natural world, science, and conservation. Meeting teens' emotional needs: To further support our teens as they explore difficult environmental issues like plastic pollution, climate change, and threats to ocean biodiversity, we hired our first full-time Youth Development Instructional Coach. As a licensed school counselor, he provides teens with time to process what they're learning and help them find ways to be part of the solution. He's also helping to make mental well-being and social-emotional skills a central element of all our Education programs - whether for teens, younger schoolchildren, or teachers. Opening doors for interns: We continued our paid internship program for college students, which provides stimulating opportunities so young adults can gain valuable work experience. The paid aspect of this program is important for students who come from communities traditionally underrepresented in the sciences and who may need independent income sources to support themselves. Talking about climate change: Talking about climate change can be anxiety-provoking and overwhelming - leading to paralysis instead of a commitment to action we need to address the daunting challenges ahead. That's why educators who took part in our second Climate Action Projects Summit learned how to foster resilience in kids and adults through a technique that helps process feelings that come with absorbing the facts. In the yearlong climate summit, classroom teachers built their knowledge and confidence to teach about climate change and guide their students in identifying, designing, and implementing climate-related solutions.