By Jim Covel, Senior Manager of Guest Experience Training & Interpretation
Not many animals get their own national holiday. Perhaps that’s why Groundhog Day is one of my favorite holidays. If you missed the headline, Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow when he poked his head out of his burrow, so we can expect an early spring. With all due respect to Phil, there may be better ways to predict weather trends.
That’s where phenology comes in. The science of phenology doesn’t get much attention, yet it’s one of the oldest sciences practiced by humankind and one of the most important to our survival. Phenology is the observation and documentation of the cycles in the natural world around us. For thousands of years we humans have tracked when plants bloom or bear fruit, when creatures migrate, when to plant, when to harvest, or when to prepare for particular weather changes or events.
Monterey Bay Rhythms
Monterey Bay has its own cycles, many of which are evident right now. The annual migration of gray whales is at its peak along the central California coast. Northern elephant seals are gathered on beaches for their annual season of birthing and mating. Our winter bird visitors are with us—surf scoters, loons, grebes and mergansers. Yesterday the Brandt’s geese arrived off our deck, right on time. Soon we’ll be looking for harbor seal pups and nesting pelagic cormorants.
In earlier eras humans depended heavily on phenology. Our food supply relied upon knowing when the salmon or steelhead would run; when flocks of birds would arrive during migration time; or when wild berries, bulbs and fruits would be ready to harvest. Agriculture helped stabilize our food supply, but it was still just as critical to know when to plant, irrigate or harvest. The Farmer’s Almanac is one of the best tributes to phenology. Since 1818 we have consulted this volume to forecast seasonal events and recommend planting times for all types of crops.
An Old Science with Modern Implications
While phenology may not get as much attention as some other sciences, it may be more critical now than ever before. The forces that help regulate Nature’s calendar—heat, cold, rainfall, atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns—are shifting as we energize our atmosphere. We observe this as changing migration patterns, plants blooming earlier, animals shifting their home ranges, changes in the nesting times for some bird species. The science of phenology has provided important baseline data as well as ongoing documentation of changes from all over the planet. This has been some of the best evidence we have about the extent of climate change impacts across the globe.
Phenology is a great example of “citizen science” where all of us can participate in science and research efforts. In fact, the more of us that participate the better. It’s easy to make regular observations of natural events around us and record that information. As we provide more data, scientists have more material to work with in documenting changes in the world around us. If you’d like to join the growing number of citizen scientists practicing phenology, you might want to visit the website for the USA National Phenology Network.
Perhaps we can get Punxsutawney Phil to join the phenology network and start logging his annual shadow observation.
Christmas at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
By Jim Covel, Senior Manager of Guest Experience Training and Interpretation
The Aquarium is closed only one day of the year—Christmas. Yet while the front doors may be closed to the public, there’s still a lot of activity inside. There are no holidays if you’re a fish, or an otter, or an albatross. We still have to feed and care for the animals, keep the life support systems running, and maintain the safety and security of all our facilities. So what really goes on at the Aquarium on Christmas?
Holiday Meals for the Animals
A few of our husbandry staff members have to come in to check up on the animals in our various exhibits and feed all the animals that eat on a daily basis. (Some of our fishes only eat every few days, so skipping a meal at Christmas is not big deal. Come to think of it, I’d be better off skipping a holiday meal or two myself!) Sea otters are definitely one of those animals that have to eat every day—in fact they eat four times a day at the Aquarium. The team that takes care of our sea otters may prepare special Christmas treats for their charges, like red and green blocks of ice with prawns frozen inside. The otters love to investigate and manipulate objects like tubing or Frisbees. Santa may bring them some new objects to exercise their curiosity and dexterity.
Under Control
The men and women in our Control Room are responsible for maintaining life support systems 24/7, including Christmas. While they may not have to turn on the escalator and monitor air temperatures in the auditorium when we’re closed, they still have to check seawater circulation in all our exhibits and make the rounds to visually check on each exhibit and its inhabitants during the day and night. In fact, Christmas may even be more complicated than other days. In an effort to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint, the system operators will endeavor to shut down lights, air handlers and other devices that aren’t essential when the public isn’t present in the building. This involves changing a number of timers and automated functions for this one day. They also run our raw seawater system all day on Christmas. Normally we filter our seawater during the day to remove plankton that would obscure the view in our larger exhibits, and run unfiltered (raw) seawater only at night. But with no guests here to look at fish during the day, we’ll keep plankton circulating through the exhibit all day as well as all night. This provides added feeding opportunities for the thousands of small invertebrates in our exhibits that filter plankton out of the water. You might say it’s a microscopic Christmas feast for our smallest exhibit animals!
Keeping Things Secure
When we are closed, it’s the role of our Security staff to make sure all of our buildings are truly closed down and properly secured. That responsibility applies not only at the main Aquarium building, but also extends to nine other buildings in the area that house various Aquarium staff and functions. They put in several miles per shift walking around the Aquarium and the various outbuildings, checking doors and gates, making sure critical power (i.e. computer, alarm and phone networks) is on, lights are off and there are no obvious hazards or suspicious activities related to any Aquarium property.
So while you may be a home opening presents and enjoying special time with your loved ones, a number of Aquarium staff members are at work, performing essential functions throughout the day and night. How do the staff members reconcile the need to be at work along with the desire to spend time with family on Christmas? Most Christmas duty is on a voluntary basis. Security officers that don’t have family in the area or managers will volunteer to cover shifts so fellow officers with family can spend time with their loved ones. Likewise, in other departments the management staff will help cover the bases so others can spend the holiday with family. And then there’s the “let’s make lemonade out of lemons” approach: Some of our husbandry staff members will bring their family to the Aquarium with them on Christmas. While mom or dad is feeding the animals, the family gets a private exhibit feeding show in front of the scenes!
So while the Aquarium may appear closed from the outside, there’s still lots of activity on the inside.
Now the only question is, which of our three smokestacks does Santa use to get into the Aquarium on Christmas Eve?
What can you do to help our oceans? The Aquarium's Jim Covel shows how simple steps make a big difference.
Changing of the (Whale) Guard
By Jim Covel, Director of Guest Experience Training and Interpretation
Monterey Bay has become a hot spot for whales (and whale watchers) the past few years. Humpbacks and blues are present through summer and fall, feeding on krill and anchovies. Gray whales pass through from December through April on their annual migration between Alaska and Baja California. Orca and other dolphins are present throughout the year.
Normally our humpbacks would leave the Central Coast in the fall and head south to an area called the Costa Rica Dome in the Pacific off Central America. There the whales bask in warm, tropical waters, bear their calves and engage in courtship. We anticipate their return to Monterey Bay the following spring. In the meantime, the gray whales that left Alaska in September/October reach the Central California Coast starting in December.
So in December we keep an eye out for this changeover. Indeed, we’re starting to see a few gray whales each day. We expect 200-300 per day in the coming weeks. By mid-February the first northbound whales appear in the bay returning from Baja California.
There is No Normal Anymore
However, we’ve seen anything but normal timing the past couple of years. This year the humpbacks returned to Monterey Bay in February—and they’re still here. Whale watching boats are still sighting humpbacks feeding daily. We’re starting to wonder if some of these humpbacks will skip their winter vacation in the tropics and just stay around Monterey Bay feeding on the still-abundant anchovies. Just as strange are the gray whale sightings in July and August in the bay. It may be that some grays are skipping the trip to the traditional summer feeding areas in Alaska.
While it’s getting harder to second guess the movements and seasonality of whales around Monterey Bay, the good news is that we’re seeing more whales during more months of the year. Good whale watching opportunities now occur continually. We hope you get to see them!
(Humpback photo ©Jim Capwell / www.divecentral.com )
With Every Breath: Aloha Spirit
By Jim Covel, Director of Guest Experience
On a recent trip to Hawaii I was reacquainted with the custom of aloha. While aloha can have many meanings, it’s often used as a traditional greeting or expression of friendship. In the traditional practice, two individuals would put their faces together (often touching at the nose or forehead) and exchange breath. The breath (“ha” in aloha) is symbolic of life energy and spirit. So exchanging breaths is saying “we are of the same breath, the same spirit.”
Back in Monterey, walking on the beach and enjoying the salt air, I was thinking about that aloha tradition. It dawned on me that we have that same relationship with the ocean—we are of the same breath.
The Breathing Ocean
The ocean is constantly breathing. It “inhales” huge volumes of carbon dioxide every day. Then it “exhales” over 50 percent of the breathable oxygen in our atmosphere. Much of that chemical magic is the work of the countless tiny plants (phytoplankton). When I walk the beach I delight in breathing in that freshly made oxygen, and in return I’m happy to provide new carbon dioxide for the ocean as I exhale. I’ve come to view my daily walk on the beach as my morning “aloha” with the ocean.
When I’m walking the beach in the early morning it’s easy to pretend there isn’t another human on the planet. However, the reality is there are many of us humans, and we’re happy to breathe the oxygen the ocean provides, and to put carbon dioxide into the air for the ocean to inhale. In fact we’re getting very good at that latter part of the equation, putting so much carbon dioxide into the air (not by breathing, but by burning fuels that produce CO2) that the ocean is showing signs of choking. It’s a bit like that aloha greeting with someone who is smoking, inhaling the smoke in their breath as we exchange breaths—yecckk! That doesn’t sound like a friendly way to treat our ocean!
Making a Difference
So in the spirit of aloha, I’m trying to be a better friend to the ocean, looking for ways to reduce the carbon dioxide I produce. Since we’ve had relatively warm weather, I have the heat turned way down. If the house gets a little chilly, a sweater and warm memories of Hawaii quickly take the chill off. I suspect there are things that each of us could do without making big changes in our daily lives, which would add up to a big difference in the daily life of the ocean.
And while I don’t necessarily think about the ocean with every breath, I do thank the ocean for every breath. And I look forward to tomorrow morning and my daily aloha walk along the ocean. No matter where you live, you’re breathing oxygen from the ocean as well. Perhaps you’ll join me in that wonderful spirit of aloha with the ocean.
Enduring Gifts
By Jim Covel, Director of Guest Experience & Interpretation
David and Lucile Packard intended the Monterey Bay Aquarium to be a gift to the community. However, I’m not sure even the Packards would have envisioned the reach and significance of that gift today. The Aquarium recently released a report detailing some of the indicators of our contribution to the community, including:
Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation
Beyond the impact on humans, we could also consider our work with animals, with over more than 650 injured or orphaned sea otters that have come to the Aquarium; or the dozens of hatchling or injured shorebirds and seabirds that have come our way.
These metrics would certainly be one way to describe how extensive this Aquarium gift has become to the community. However, I also see this gift reflected in the smiles, the inquisitive looks on the thousands of faces—young and old alike—that we greet each day. Perhaps the real meaning of the Aquarium is written on those faces. A generation has grown up in the Aquarium and now brings their children to marvel at the marine life that enchanted their parents. Over 52 million visitors know more about the ocean–and care more–by virtue of their exposure to our exhibits and programs.
Volunteers: We Couldn’t Do It Without Them
While the Packard family certainly deserves credit for launching the Aquarium, a multitude of others have contributed to our enduring success. Over 5,000 volunteers have contributed hundreds of thousands of hours over the past 30 years. Over 60,000 member households, along with donors and sponsors at all levels help underwrite our education and conservation programs. Since that original gift in 1984, a growing community has formed to support the Aquarium’s mission to inspire conservation of the oceans. That community of ocean stewards now stretches across multiple generations, and may ultimately be the greatest and most enduring gift of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
If you are reading this, you are most likely part of that community that connects with the Aquarium. You are part of that gift that David and Lucile Packard set in motion in 1984, and your interest in taking care of our oceans is a gift in itself. Thank you for being a part of our growing success. Thank you for ensuring the Monterey Bay Aquarium remains an enduring gift for future generations.
A Sad Anniversary–and a Cautionary Tale for Our Oceans
By Jim Covel, Director of Guest Experience
September 1 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of the last passenger pigeon. Named “Martha,” this bird has the dubious distinction of being an “endling,” meaning she was the very last of her species. Martha spent most of her estimated 29 years at the Cincinnati Zoo in one of the first captive breeding programs, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
What makes Martha’s story so remarkable—and regrettable—is that a century earlier the number of passenger pigeons in North America was estimated as high as 3-5 billion birds! The flocks depended on large tracts of hardwood forest for food, nesting and roosting areas. One nesting area in Wisconsin was estimated at 850 square miles hosting over 130,000,000 passenger pigeons. Migrating flocks would darken the skies for hours or days at a time.
Despite those unimaginable numbers, in less than 100 years only Martha remained—and then there were none. Unregulated commercial hunting wiped out one flock after another. The bird’s habit of consistently returning to the same areas facilitated the slaughter. Removing vast tracts of forest that were essential habitat for the passenger pigeon put the final nail in the species coffin.
In retrospect, Martha and her kind provided an awful awakening that we humans had the power to drive nearly any species over the precipice into extinction. Martha inspired a new round of conservation measures that limited and eventually eliminated many forms of commercial hunting. It would be nice to know that we learned that lesson well. But have we?
Passenger Pigeons of the Ocean?
If we look to the sea rather than the sky, there are fishes that might be considered the passenger pigeons of the ocean—species once so abundant their numbers were considered both inestimable and inexhaustible. The great runs of salmon on our Pacific Coast might be one example. Most major rivers along this coast supported runs of salmon ranging from the hundreds of thousands to over 10 million in the Columbia River. These fish were concentrated into defined spawning runs, much like the passenger pigeons occupied specific nesting and roosting areas. Early fishers could row from shore placing large seine nets around the salmon and then using teams of horses to drag the laden nets up onto shore.
Yet today many salmon runs are considered endangered. Commercial salmon fishing is highly regulated as is sport fishing, so why are salmon numbers still in trouble? The quality of salmon habitat—particularly spawning streams and rivers—continues to decline. Just as farmland replaced the extensive hardwood forests the passenger pigeons relied upon, human demands for fresh water leave less and less available in streams for the fish. A universal truth in nature is that any species is only as healthy as the habitat it depends upon.
So if we work toward healthy oceans and healthy streams, perhaps we can enjoy healthy populations of many important fishes well into the future. The very thought that someday there could be an “endling” coho salmon, or bluefin tuna is too terrible to contemplate. Remember Martha, and as we acknowledge her regrettable anniversary we can renew our commitment to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Learn more about conservation at the Aquarium
(Image from Smithsonian Institution Archives)
We’re thrilled to be the first public aquarium in the world to culture and raise these delightful drifters. While these animals are incredibly fragile and difficult to see, they’re abundant and can be found throughout the ocean!
Siphonophores are colonies of tiny animals called “zooids”, and they play an important role in the oceanic food webs.
Thank you to our colleagues at @mbari-blog for the common siphonophore footage! Check out their website to learn more about these magnificent mysteries!