“The inspiration for us was that we had all gone to college and worked on our graduate degrees here,” Packard said. “We were all marine biologists. We had spent a lot of time in this amazing piece …
has always had a focus on our local marine life and was at one time expected to be “just” a public educational institute. But over the past 40 years, it has evolved to emphasize the importance of ocean conservation – something deeply important to seaweed biologist turned aquarium co-founder and Executive Director Julie Packard.The idea of building an aquarium near Monterey Bay had been talked about since at least the 1920s.
“It’s so exciting because we have a lot of followers who have never been to the aquarium and who never will come to the aquarium, for that matter. Either they live far away, or maybe they have a disability, they’re homebound, or, who knows, many, many issues,” Packard said. “And it’s just such an amazing way to extend the message and extend our reach.
“There was a lot of that, which was fun and, well, it wasn’t always fun, but it was memorable experiences,” Packard said. The aquarium has also shared stories to help convey its message, taking on topics such as overfishing or the sea otter population. “They were hunted nearly to extinction, so close, and have made a slow comeback over time,” Packard said.
Packard also highlighted Assembly Bill 5454 passing as a big win in California. It is currently the most progressive single-use plastic law in the U.S. “Basically it’s to move to an extended producer responsibility scheme and reduce, or hopefully eliminate the plastic trash and single-use plastic problem that we have.
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