Changes in bold.

By Jessy SHELTON
Special to CV Weekly

On Thursday, Feb. 6 the Aquarium of the Pacific (AOP) launched a new education tool, the Marine Species Report Card. The main goal of the tool is to give context into what biodiversity means and what a shift in species population looks like. “If I told you there had been a 10% decline in California marine biodiversity you would intellectually know that was bad but I’m not sure you would get passionate about it,” said Dr. Peter Kareiva, president and CEO of Aquarium of the Pacific. “But if I told you that that 10% decline, what really was behind it, was that all of the sea otters along California had disappeared – you’d be angry, you’d rally, you’d be passionate about it and feel a real sense of loss.” 

This connection is what he said this tool – the Marine Species Report Card – will show the public. It is a way for people to clearly understand and connect to the animals’ biodiversity to which reports refer. Through the Marine Species Report Card data collected on these species help scientists make sense of how effective current policy is, serve as an “early warning system” when looking at a decline in a specific species and help point them in a direction of a solution, and provide a sense of empowerment by showing the positive and tangible impacts of restoration and conservation efforts. This data was collected by 20 individuals, 24 organizations and 43 peer-reviewers and is possible because of the contributions of these volunteers. 

The marine report card creates an opportunity to talk about conservation actions with every six out of the 30 species on the report card having their own focused program at the aquarium. Some of these programs include efforts toward raising and releasing endangered and threatened species into the wild across the state, responding to disaster events such as fires, oil spills and algal blooms, and creating community science initiatives so anyone who wants to volunteer to collect data and help restore marine areas can do so. The report card data will allow for observing changes in these species due to its biggest threat: climate change. 

According to Jennie Dean, vice president of Education and Conservation at AOP, “Consistently the most pervasive threat we’ve seen against these 30 species is climate change.”

She explained that climate change shows its impact in many ways, one of which is ocean temperature, specifically warmer waters in local parts of the world, and that “warmer water is not so conducive to some of our colder water adaptive species.” 

Climate change also affects the currents that in turn can influence what type of species are present and where, leading to a change in food webs. The data collected will allow for the continuation of monitoring these 30 species with the hope to increase the overall number of species on the report card. 

The Marine Species Report Card is available online at Pacific.to/msrc for people to review and discover population trends and fun facts as well as opportunities to get involved with restoration work and/or science initiatives.

As Dean said, “I am very sincere that anybody can be involved in the future of these species.” 

For more information visit the site aquariumofpacific.org or visit the AOP location at 100 Aquarium Way in Long Beach, which is open to the public.