3 minute read
Thank you!
Your generous support enables the Aquarium to touch millions of lives and achieve remarkable results for our ocean planet. That was especially true in 2022. With operations in full swing after our extended closure, our entire team was excited to focus on new experiences and new programs to take our impact to the next level.
We opened Into the Deep/En lo Profundo, the most ambitious exhibition we’ve created since our Open Sea galleries. It was a milestone in our history and, for me, the fulfillment of a longtime dream. Our extraordinary team, plus an unprecedented collaboration with our colleagues at MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute), enabled us to immerse people in the living deep sea that covers most of our planet, for the first time anywhere. My special thanks to the Grainger Family Descendants Fund both for the gift that let us complete Into the Deep during challenging times, and for their recent gift to ensure the exhibit continues to showcase the very latest in deep-sea discoveries.
The exhibition helped us attract over 1.8 million guests, a welcome return to numbers close to our pre-pandemic visitation. This includes the return of students for free field trips — the first since 2020. We hosted teachers for a new institute that emphasizes problem-solving and equity, and a summit that prepares them to lead students in climate action projects at their schools and in their communities.
We grew our Children’s Education Endowment Fund to secure funding and free access for these programs into the future, as we continue to fulfill the potential of the Bechtel Family Center for Ocean Education and Leadership.
The year also included big victories for ocean health. The Seafood Watch program’s sustainable seafood ratings continued to drive change across the globe, and the team — including a growing number of international fellows — was in high demand. Bolstering California’s leadership, we negotiated and backed the nation’s most comprehensive law reducing plastic pollution at the source. We co-sponsored a bill that bans seabed mining in state waters. And, our decades of work to recover sea otters revealed new insights into their role in supporting healthy ecosystems as communities plan to manage the growing impact of climate change.
Throughout the year, we continued our journey to become a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible organization, finding new ways to support the diverse voices that are essential to shaping solutions. We’re making accessibility for all a priority and supporting future teachers whose backgrounds reflect those of their students. Only by making these values and voices integral to our culture will we achieve our mission to inspire conservation of the ocean. I’m so grateful to you for making it all possible.
