Heal the Bay Blog

Seven-year-old Jack Mcguinness has a passion for all animals, according to his mom Karen Mcguinness. So our Science Adventure Camp this summer was right up his alley.

After a week of fun getting to know the 100-plus species of marine life at our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, Jack was inspired to fundraise for the Aquarium as well as adopt a swell shark egg through the marine education facility’s aquadoption program.

To run his lemonade and cookie stand, Jack enlisted the help of his siblings, who took turns holding a sign and flagging down customers. Thank you Jack for becoming a steward of the marine environment and for supporting the Aquarium!

Join Jack and support our work. Donate now or adopt an SMPA animal as a birthday or anniversary gift.

Today’s blogger is Tara Crow, our Aquarium’s public programs manager.

I took a quick pause from my other work duties this morning to find something fun and exciting to post on the Aquarium’s Facebook Wall.  Checking around, it seemed like a quiet news day on the marine science front and I was struggling with my task. Staff member and education specialist Amanda Jones walked into the office to stretch her legs when she noticed something funny walking by outside.  

“Is that a crab?” she asked.  Sure enough, a rogue, striped shore crab had somehow found its way, a quarter mile from the pier pilings where it should be living, to the front of our Aquarium. Coincidentally, Amanda had arrived at just the right moment to see the crab walking by our office.  

One lost little crab rescued from in front of the Aquarium

The crab was stalking along in the open area next to a busy footpath and the pier deck stairs that has been getting quite a bit of traffic during the spring break rush.  A few of us decided to go out to check on the little crab.  Striped shore crabs can spend days out of water if they’re not exposed to direct sun and this crab appeared to be in good shape, other than being totally covered in dirt and dust.  I grabbed the crab (who turned out to be a female), brought her inside and placed her in a beaker of salt water to clean her off.  She seems to be doing just fine now.  Our best guess as to how she made it to the front of the Aquarium is that either she was dropped by a bird, or someone had pulled her from a pier piling.  

As a happy ending to the story, the once-lost crab is now safe and sound in the Aquarium and will be making herself at home in our touch tanks where she will be well fed and kept safely away from predators.  Be sure to stop by and meet our newest crustacean local and help us come up with a name for this little rescuee.

Plan your next visit now.

This is the final installment of a four-part series on the many changes the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium has undergone since March 1, 2003, when Heal the Bay took over management and ownership of the marine education center. This blog was authored by Aquarium Director Vicki Wawerchak.

Pollution prevention and environmental stewardship are two messages infused into the programs at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. From learning about storm drains vs. sewers in our field trip education program, to training volunteers to educate the public about our Beach Report Card, the “Pollution Corner” plays an integral role in educating the students and adults about the impacts humans can have – both positively and negatively – on the ocean environment. This exhibit has been transformed into the perfect platform for discussing the latest in plastic bag legislation, but it took awhile for the display to become the popular spot it is today.

The pollution corner, an oddly-shaped area in the far corner of the gallery, has undergone a few variations. When Heal the Bay originally took over the facility it was the UCLA Ocean Discovery Center’s donor wall, which was painted a bright shade of goldenrod. One of the first designs integrated into the corner consisted of an interactive trash timeline, a storm drain versus sewer poster, images of the impacts of pollution on marine life and an eight-foot tall, three-dimensional sculpture of a storm drain with an imbedded video monitor. New teaching elements were introduced along the way including a “butt-o-meter,” a tall acrylic cylinder that was filled to the top with cigarette butts to show just how many were picked up during a beach cleanup, followed by information regarding our partnership with Monterey Bay Aquarium’s seafood watch program.

The Pollution Corner before and after renovation

After many years of trying to figure out what would work well in this challenging space, we enthusiastically settled on the latest rendition. The current pollution corner includes an open ocean exhibit with a sea jelly kreisel (a round tank specially designed to protect the fragile structure of a jelly) filled with majestic moon jellies. Floating inside a tank alongside the kreisel are the remnants of plastic bags and balloons. This exhibit demonstrates the similarities between sea jellies and plastic marine debris in the ocean environment, allowing the visitor to understand how marine life can mistake plastic debris for food, often resulting in death through starvation and choking. A three-dimensional color mural, which also illustrates the negative impact of plastic debris on marine life, is highlighted as well.

I hope you will drop by Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and experience everything it now has to offer after years of improvements.

Read part three of our four-part series.