New England Aquarium Corporation

Programs: Exhibition: the aquarium is a massachusetts chapter 180 non-profit corporation formed for the purpose of operating a public aquarium in boston, massachusetts. The mission of the aquarium is to be a catalyst for global change through public engagement, commitment to marine animal conservation, leadership in education, innovative scientific research and advocacy for vital and vibrant oceans. In addition to its exhibits, the aquarium operates an imax theater, gift shop, cafe, catered events, education programs and sponsored programming in marine research, conservation and education. The aquarium relies on admissions revenue, retail sales to its visitors and private gifts and grants for the majority of its operations. These revenues and support are primarily derived from visitors and donors from the greater boston area, the new england region and tourists to the city. Our recent focus has been on visitor experience improvements and future exhibit planning; enhancing our education and stewardship programs; and implementing a new strategic plan. The centerpiece of our new strategic plan was the creation in 2016 of the anderson cabot center for ocean life at the new england aquarium, which leverages and expands the aquarium's innovative applied marine science and data-driven conservation solutions to combat the unprecented threat to our oceans represented by climate change and other human activities. We opened the science of sharks exhibit in april, which highlights science and conservation issues related to sharks, including the work of anderson cabot center researchers. Visitor evaluation results for this exhibit have been very positive, with 43% of visitors citing a positive change in their perception of sharks, and 49% reporting that they are very likely to increase what they do to help sharks and the ocean as a result of visiting the exhibit. Smaller exhibit projects included a new climate change exhibit in the blue planet action center, a rio negro exhibit in the freshwater gallery, a new anderson cabot center display in the lobby, raising the glass-viewing wall in the marine mammal center, and concrete floor repairs to two exhibit bays. We led a cross-institution effort to develop an exhibit master plan, including a cross-department planning team and a 40-person workshop. The plan includes a "road map" for recommended changes over the next 5-10 years, as well as a database of existing conditions.

anderson cabot center for ocean life: the new england aquarium officially launched the anderson cabot center for ocean life at the new england aquarium in june 2016 to manage its marine research and conservation efforts. In the first half of 2016, our focus was on developing infrastructure for the new anderson cabot center, including the appointment of dr. John mandelman as vice president and senior scientist. In the latter part of the year, we commenced a strategic implementation planning process for the anderson cabot center, which continued through the early part of 2017. The anderson cabot center has continued to focus on building and strengthening its operating and programmatic capacity to carry out its strategic growth plan, while continuing to execute on existing grants and projects. -a team of anderson cabot center research scientists traveled to halifax, nova scotia for the annual north atlantic right whale ("narw") consortium meeting and the biennial conference for the society of marine mammalogy. Our team played a leadership role spearheading an international coalition to take action to curb the sudden and extreme mortality rate for the narw this past year. -anderson cabot center and aquarium leadership constructed the first set of guidelines around institutional marine policy engagement strategies and decision-making with help from ocean policy consultant jean flemma. -dr. Liz burgess received a christine stevens wildlife award from the animal welfare institute to validate and apply fecal thyroid hormone assays for florida manatees. Along with already developed stress hormone assays, this approach will enable us to examine effects of both natural factors affecting manatees (cold and nutritional stress) and impacts of human activities. -dr. Roz rolland and colleagues published a paper in endangered species research showing high levels of fecal stress hormones in right whales chronically entangled in fishing gear, which is direct evidence of severe physical trauma experienced by entangled whales. We applied the same method to help determine the timeline of death in several right whales that died this summer in the gulf of st. Lawrence from ship-strikes and fishing gear entanglement. -dr. Jeff kneebone and collaborators completed fieldwork and data collection for two research studies with the goal of improving the management and conservation of thorny skate, an imperiled species in the gulf of maine. -dr. Scott kraus released a new publication based upon the long-term right whale catalog work that shows that the population has been declining since 2011. -the first textbook dedicated to the veterinary management of sea turtles, sea turtle health and rehabilitation was released in august 2017. The text book was co-edited and co-authored by aquarium veterinarian, dr. Charles innis.

education: for nearly 50 years, the aquarium has provided life-changing educational experiences for people of all ages, from a child touching a sea star to an adult learning how his/her daily actions can affect the ocean. The aquarium's educational impact is broad and ever expanding. From toddlers to retirees, from the heart of boston, across new england and around the world, our diverse audiences have experiences they will never forget. The aquarium's education programs work directly with the city and other partners to identify and fill needs and to draw on our distinctive role as an urban gateway to ocean science. We are helping to fill the "opportunity gap" in stem education for underserved youth in boston through programs in school, after school, and during the summer. - we increased our presence in the communities of boston and cambridge with education activities at 91 events, reaching nearly 28,000 youth and adults. - we formed a teacher advisory council to improve our ability to provide relevant educational resources, tools and opportunities to support k-12 educators. - youth programs continue to be in high demand, with strong enrollment and waitlists. Harbor discoveries summer camp was at full capacity. - we expanded the marine biologists in training ("mbit") program to include fieldwork and additional sessions. - the new england ocean science education collaborative ("neosec"), hosted by the aquarium, provided professional development to informal educators throughout the region on afterschool coaching for rural educators and naaee guidelines for excellence in environmental education. Our national network for ocean and climate change interpretation ("nnocci") network grew to include 400 colleagues from 170 institutions in 38 states during 2017. Nnocci was profiled in education week and received top awards in an nsf-sponsored stem video showcase. In addition to continuing study circle training for informal educators, we provided introductory nnocci workshops for board members and w2o members. We initiated two new projects on building community climate resilience in the boston area (east boston, chelsea, lynn, and hull) with $1m of funding from nsf and noaa. These efforts build on our nnocci work, and are integrated with additional community outreach efforts to increase our presence and partnerships in these communities. We successfully launched the epa-funded peach program, which builds on our live blue service programs to increase capacity of partner environmental organizations to engage youth and adult volunteers in new and innovative habitat restoration projects. Live blue ambassadors engaged 190 youth participants in working with 11 partner environmental organizations. The live blue service corps also continues to grow, engaging 358 adult participants in 161 events such as quahog seeding, water chestnut removal, trash cleanup, and outreach education.

other - the aquarium is a pioneer in rescue and rehabilitation of certain marine mammals and other species. During the winter of 2017, we rescued and rehabilitated stranded sea turtles (primarily kemp's ridley turtles) resulting from cold stunning. We continued to work with our partners at boston harbor cruises ("bhc") to offer the new england aquarium whale watch, operated by bhc. This combined effort has generated increased whale watch attendance and expanded significantly the reach of our whale conservation programming.