Tag Archives: Aquarium

Oh Those Cute Sea Otters!

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Two otter stories making the news – first is the otters at the Fish Jail get their own PG Remodel.

Mural Otters

After six long months with no sea otter exhibit, aquarium administrators say the beloved endangered species will return for public view Saturday.

The exhibit is one of the aquarium’s most popular, but after 25 years it started to show its age. Among other issues, the rock platform and stones in the water, which otters like to pick up, had become deteriorated by the saltwater.

Yeah, otters. They are amusing and cute. Until the males try and rape sea lions..

Mural Otters

Trying to find refuge from what appeared to be a sexual assault by a male sea otter, the sea lion hopped aboard a kayak in the Moss Landing Harbor.

Powell said she had gathered a group of kayakers into a “raft” to discuss safety before leading them past a dock where sea lions hang out near the Highway 1 bridge last Saturday morning when she noticed what appeared to be two sea otters mating about 50 feet away. Before she could advise the kayakers to move off, what turned out to be a sea lion broke away and made a dash for the kayaks, the otter in pursuit.

Aquarium Reopens Otter Exhibit

Sea Lion Assaulted By Otters

Great White Stops Over In Malibu Before Touring Monterey

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Shark lands in the fish prison.

The young shark, a four-foot, seven-inch male weighing 43.2 pounds, was brought north in a 3,200-gallon mobile life support transport vehicle. He was collected August 18 by aquarium staff with the help of a commercial fishing crew using a purse seine net. He was quickly transferred to a more than 4-million-gallon ocean holding pen off Malibu, where he remained for almost two weeks.

Great White Stops Over In Malibu Before Touring Monterey

Aquarium Cleans, Renames Exhibit

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Remodel from “Outer Bay” into “The Open Sea”. Notice that the Fish Jail is losing most of the Monterey Bay part of it’s name?

In what may be the mother of all fish tank spring-cleaning projects, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is putting the final touches on the overhaul of its Outer Bay tank — a 1 million gallon structure that holds more water than the other 90 tanks in the aquarium combined and ranks among the largest tanks in the United States. It’s all part of a $19 million transformation that re-opens to the public Saturday.

Aquarium Cleans, Renames Exhibit

Callin Us All Chowdaheads?

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Legal Sea Foods

A Boston-based restaurant chain is planning a dinner featuring seafood it says environmental groups have “brainwashed” consumers to avoid.

Legal Sea Foods owner Roger Berkowitz tells the Gloucester Daily Times that guides such as “Seafood Watch,” published by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, have “no scientific basis,” but intimidate buyers.

Callin Us All Chowdaheads?

Sea Otter Population Shrinks While Shark Population Grows

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Hmmm, them scientists might be on to something.

The most recent sea otter census, released by the organization earlier this month, showed a continued downward trend in the number of both adults and pups in California.

August encounters with adult great whites are consistent with findings from a research team led by biologists from Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station. By placing electronic tracking tags on 179 sharks since 2000, they’ve documented that adult great whites congregate near sea lion and elephant seal breeding colonies in Central and Northern California between August and February.

Sea Otter Population Shrinks While Shark Population Grows

Great White Paroled By Fish Jail Dies In Dragnet

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Never convicted of any crime, released by the aquarium then forced to wear an ankle bracelet. Hasn’t she suffered enough?

The shark, fitted with two electronic tracking tags when she was released, was caught in early March in a gillnet set by a fisherman off Ensenada, Mexico, about 500 miles south of where she was returned to the wild.

Great White Paroled By Fish Jail Dies In Drag Net

Beef At Fish Jail – Reputation At Steak

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The Fish Jail is beginning to lose my support with it’s preaching. Besides, where in the Monterey Bay does one find Pink Flamingos?

Recently they unveiled the “Hot Pink Flamingo” exhibit which is all about ways to reduce your carbon footprint. That is exactly when one of its items on display, a life sized replica of a cow stirred up some controversy. The display aims to teach how methane gas released from cows could be captured to generate electricity, but some dairy farmers were not a fan of the display.

Beef At Fish Jail – Reputation At Steak

Tourist Trolley Funding Approved

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We are in your town, filling your inadequate sewers.

Trolley Riders

The trolley would run between Monterey Bay Aquarium and Asilomar Conference Grounds, following a route that would include Ocean View Boulevard, Sunset Drive and Point Pinos Lighthouse and would return via Lighthouse and Central avenues.

Cost of the bus service is estimated at $60,000, with the city providing $15,000 from its golf fund and $5,000 from the lighthouse fund.

Council members liked the idea but questioned how the city could measure its success.

“We’d need it to generate $3 million worth of business to recover the $60,000 cost,” said Councilman Bill Kampe.

Tourist Trolley Funding Approved

What Recession? Fish Jail Reels ‘Em In

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Mister Jaws

It wasn’t expected, but Monterey Bay Aquarium is on pace to match last year’s attendance.
And considering what a big impact the aquarium makes on the local economy, that’s good news for Monterey County as well.

“It’s flat out been a good year,” said Ken Peterson, the aquarium’s communications director.

The aquarium had projected a drop of nearly 250,000 from last year’s 1.9million attendance, Peterson said, based mainly on the weak economy.

What Recession? Fish Jail Reels ‘Em In