The Aquarium of the Pacific has launched three new webcams, allowing visitors to the Aquarium’s website to get a fish-eye view inside Blue Cavern, Tropical Reef, and the Tropical Gallery’s Sex Change exhibit.

The Blue Cavern webcam is positioned just inside the glass, where viewers can watch the residents of this kelp forest habitat swim by. If you time it right, you’ll also be able to spot Aquarium divers.

Visitors to the Tropical Reef webcam feed will be able to see rays and zebra sharks gliding by among hundreds of other animals. The Tropical Reef Habitat is the Aquarium’s largest exhibit, containing 350,000 gallons of water and more than 1,000 animals, from the tiny cleaner wrasse to the large Queensland grouper.

The colorful fish in the Sex Change exhibit make for particularly hypnotic webcam viewing. These fishes have the ability to change from male to female or vice versa depending on certain factors. Anthias and most wrasses are protogynous hermaphrodites. This means they are born female but if a dominant male perishes, the largest female of the group will often change into a male to take its place. On the other hand, clown anemonefish are protandrous hermaphrodites. This means that they mature as males and the largest one will change into a female when the resident female dies.

Check the webcams often to see the animals at feeding time or even to get an insider’s peek at what the exhibits look like at night.

Support for the webcams has been provided by Pearls of the Planet, a project of explore.org, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation.

In January the Aquarium of the Pacific presented its Glenn McIntyre Heritage Award to artist and advocate Ruben Rios at its Festival of Human Abilities. This festival is the Aquarium’s annual celebration that highlights the creative talents and abilities of people with disabilities. Each year at the Festival of Human Abilities the Aquarium honors an individual or organization within the community for outstanding community service and promoting cultural awareness.

Born in South Gate, California, Rios suffered a gunshot wound in 1988 at age eighteen that damaged his spinal cord and left him paralyzed from the neck down. As a child, he dreamed of a career as a police officer, but always enjoyed drawing and painting as a hobby. After his injury, he returned to art as a way to express himself, reclaim his identity, and regain a sense of self-worth. Today, he spends most of his time painting with the use of a mouth stick, advocating on behalf of those with injuries similar to his, and sharing his story with others.

Rios has been going to the Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center in Downey as an outpatient for more than twenty years. He serves on the center’s Rehab Council and as the co-chairman of the Patient Advisory Council, working to improve service to patients and foster communication between the staff, doctors, patients, and their families.

He has also been involved in the organization’s annual art show for more than fifteen years and, with other artists at the center, teaches a pediatric art class for patients. In demonstrating his artistic talent for his students, Rios helps inspire confidence and enthusiasm among patients at the center. He feels especially passionate about working with children and showing them that a spinal chord injury or other disability doesn’t have to hold them back.

It was during his time at Rancho Los Amigos that Rios learned about the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists. He eventually submitted a body of work to the association and was accepted as a member in 1996.

Rios is also an ambassador for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. He travels the country on behalf of the foundation doing painting demonstrations and speaking to groups about his experience with a spinal chord injury.

In partnership with Harbor Breeze Cruises, the Aquarium of the Pacific offers daily whale watching cruises that launch from the dock right in front of the Aquarium. Gray whale sightings continue throughout the winter as these animals migrate south along the U.S. West Coast to the lagoons of Baja, Mexico. This past month also brought special rare sightings of orcas. A transient group of thirty to forty orcas was spotted by whale watch boats off the coast of Long Beach and Orange County beach cities. These cetacean visitors delighted whale watchers with their acrobatics, unique behaviors, and the antics of the young calves traveling with this group. Word of these sightings has excited Aquarium staff members so much that many of them recently have signed up for our whale watch trips themselves. Aquarium Boat Program Manager Kera Mathes’ recently blogged about the orcas and posted a video capturing this rare sighting. To read her post, click here.

Although it’s unlikely that whale watchers will continue to see orcas as days go by this winter, sightings of gray whales and fin whales are still going strong, and many boats regularly spot several of the three resident species of dolphins in the Southern California region, as well as sea lions and birds. To keep tabs on recent sightings, visit the Aquarium’s whale watch Twitter feed.

Make a day of it and visit the Aquarium before or after your whale watch cruise by purchasing a combo ticket. For pricing information, click here.

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The Aquarium of the Pacific recently received grants from Oxy Long Beach, Inc. and the LeBurta Atherton Foundation that will benefit the Aquarium’s Legacy Project. This project will continue the Aquarium’s long-standing relationship with two local schools and provide science learning experiences to underserved Long Beach families. Oxy granted $25,000 toward this project, and the Atherton Foundation gave $10,000.

The Aquarium has established relationships with the Cesar Chavez Elementary School and Washington Middle School communities and will continue to build on those relationships through the Legacy Project. Aquarium educators will adjust the focus of the project to allow for more sustainability and bring high-quality science activities, materials, and experiences to the parents, students, and teachers of those particular schools, as well as other Title I schools in Long Beach.

Under the Legacy Project, the Aquarium’s education department will offer out-of-school science learning opportunities that promote environmental literacy among parents and students from Cesar Chavez Elementary School and Washington Middle School. The project will provide family field trips to institutions like the California Science Center or the L.A. Zoo, and the Aquarium will both attend and host community events to deepen the connection with families.

In addition, Aquarium tickets will be given to the schools’ principals for distribution to students to encourage academic and social achievement, and teachers will have the opportunity to bring their classes to the Aquarium free of charge. Field trips will be available to Chavez Elementary, Washington Middle School, and other Long Beach Unified Title I schools.

The Legacy Project will support students’ interest and access to science, while providing parents opportunities to encourage their children’s science and academic achievement.

Get an insider’s look at what goes on at the Aquarium through the eyes of Assistant Curator Steve Blair. Steve’s duties include overseeing the care of our animals, ensuring aquarists on our staff have the training and support they need, and planning future exhibits.

This week I’d like to share with everyone a list of the wonderful cast of animal characters that I’ll be working around on Saturdays during my volunteer shift at the Aquarium of the Pacific in 2012. We’ll start with the marine mammals.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is now accepting entries for its second annual Urban Ocean Poetry Contest, which is held in conjunction with the Aquarium’s Urban Ocean Festival.

Southern California’s Urban Ocean is home to unique marine habitats and animals, a wide variety of recreational activities, industrial and commercial activity, and more than 20 million residents that live along the coast between Santa Barbara and San Diego. Surfers, fishermen, container ships, whales, and many other types of marine life and human activity must share this part of the ocean.

The Urban Ocean Festival will be held May 5 and 6 this year. The festival includes art exhibitions, mural painting, educational activities, and Urban Ocean boat cruises.

Poems submitted must have an Urban Ocean theme and be no longer than 300 words or thirty lines (including empty lines). Three cash prizes will be awarded in each of four age categories: high school students (grades 9-12), young adult (ages 18-25), adults (ages 26-61), and seniors (ages 62 and up). First prize winners will receive $150, four Aquarium tickets, and four Urban Ocean Poetry Cruise tickets. Second prize winners will receive $100 in addition to the Aquarium and cruise tickets, and third place winners will receive $75 plus the tickets.

The deadline for submitting poetry for the contest is April 6. Winners will be announced at the Urban Ocean Festival, where they will read their poem during a special awards ceremony.

For contest rules, guidelines, and additional information, click here.

The Aquarium of the Pacific features daily whale watching cruises, in partnership with Harbor Breeze Cruises, that launch from the dock right in front of the Aquarium. This past December whale watchers spotted a record number of gray whales passing through the waters off of Long Beach and the sightings continue. More than 169 gray whales were seen in December alone.

Gray whales make two passes along the California coast each year as they migrate south to the lagoons of Baja California in Mexico during winter for the mating season, then back up to the nutrient-rich waters of Alaska for the summer. You can learn more about the whales that visit the Long Beach area and about the Aquarium’s participation in tracking these whales by following posts written by our blogger Kera Mathes, the Aquarium’s boat programs manager.

Passengers aboard Aquarium whale watch boats have also spotted many fin whales, dolphins, and even orcas on recent trips. To keep tabs on recent sightings, visit the Aquarium’s whale watch Twitter feed.

Make a day of it and visit the Aquarium before or after your whale watch cruise by purchasing a combo ticket. For pricing information, click here. Not only can you seek out whales in the wild from the boat, but also you can check out the Whales: Journey with Giants movie and the Whales: Voice in the Sea kiosk at the Aquarium. At this kiosk, you can listen to the wide variety of noises of whales and porpoises, then record your own imitation of a whale call.

This has truly been an amazing whale watch season, and there are still so many months to go! Our interns for the spring arrived this week and on Tuesday we went out on the boats for a training. When I was walking down to the boat, Captain Chris asked me if I had my camera (which of course I always do), and he said “Good! It’s your lucky day!” Read on to find out what made this day extra special!

The Aquarium of the Pacific is welcoming four new members to its Board of Directors. Representing several business sectors and hailing from Los Angeles and Orange County regions, these new board members will bring their years of experience and expertise to the Aquarium, helping direct the non-profit organization in furthering its mission.

Stephen I. Chazen, Ph.D. is president and chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Oxy), an international oil and gas exploration and production company and the fourth-largest oil and gas company in the United States, based on equity market capitalization. He has held several positions with the company since 1994 and was elected to Oxy’s Board of Directors in 2010. Before joining Oxy, Chazen worked as managing director and head of corporate finance in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch, and worked as director of project evaluation and reservoir engineering at Columbia Gas Development Corporation. He began his career at Northrop Corporation in 1973 as laboratory manager at the Johnson Space Center. Chazen holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Rutgers College, a master’s degree in finance from the University of Houston and a Ph.D. in geology from Michigan State University.

“I am excited by the Aquarium of the Pacific’s role in educating the public, especially underprivileged children, and I am honored to serve on its Board of Directors. Children need every opportunity to discover the world around them, and the Aquarium gives us all a chance to learn about the various regions of the Pacific Ocean and the plants and animals living there. The Aquarium’s ability to provide these opportunities for enrichment will be a key focus for me,” Chazen said.

“We are very excited to have Steve Chazen join our board. He brings a wealth of experience in finance, energy, and the environment to the Aquarium’s Board. We look forward to Steve’s leadership as we embark on the Aquarium’s next growth phase,” said John Fielder, chair, Aquarium of the Pacific Board of Directors.

Glenville A. March, Jr., M.D., co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based MARCH Vision Care, Inc., is a recognized expert in the medical and surgical management of neurologic vision loss. March Vision Care, Inc. manages vision benefits for over 3 million members in fifteen states and the District of Columbia, with a special focus on the unique needs of Medicaid and Medicare enrollees. March was a dean’s fellow while obtaining his M.D. at the University of Rochester in New York, and completed his residency in ophthalmology at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles. Following his ophthalmology residency, March completed fellowships in neuro-ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, and in orbital and ophthalmic reconstructive surgery at UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute.

“As a life long aquarist, serving on the Aquarium’s Board of Directors is in many ways a childhood dream come true. I have the privilege and honor of stewarding the nation’s fourth-largest aquarium. More importantly, it’s an opportunity to create new stewards of our watershed, environment, and precious water resources. More than 1.5 million people visit the aquarium annually and learn from one of the nation’s most energy-efficient organizations,” March said. March started his first aquarium, a fifty-five-gallon salt water aquarium, at the age of fifteen and his continuing passion about preserving marine life is key in his role on the Aquarium of the Pacific Board of Directors.

“After serving for five years as an active member of the Aquarium’s Trustees of the Pacific, as well as his and his wife’s continued commitment to mission-driven programs through their Pacific Circle involvement, I am pleased that Dr. Glen March has agreed to join the Board of Directors. His passion for the Aquarium and his community will provide invaluable contributions to our success,” Board Director Dr. J. Mario Molina said.

Newport Beach resident Sean Pence is the senior vice president and general counsel (Americas) for Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver, Inc. and is also responsible for Quiksilver’s Latin America business. Prior to joining Quiksilver, Pence practiced corporate and securities law for Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLC and served as in-house counsel to Buy.com, Inc. and later to First Consulting Group, Inc. Pence attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and obtained a bachelor’s degree in law and society. He obtained his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Pence also serves on the Board of Directors of the Quiksilver Foundation and the Board of Directors of the Newport Shores Community Association. An active surfer, fisherman, SCUBA diver, and stand-up paddler, Pence has a wide-ranging passion for the ocean.

“Over the years, the Aquarium has established many initiatives, programs, and exhibits that have raised awareness for the preservation of the ocean’s marine life and ecosystems. These efforts have influenced the Aquarium’s growth and impact on the community in a short period of time, setting it apart from a traditional aquarium. I am privileged to be part of this esteemed Board of Directors, which I firmly believe is committed to education and activating our community’s sensitivity to environmental issues. I’ve grown up around the ocean and have a great respect for the resources and opportunities for pleasure it provides,” Pence said.

“Sean Pence is a great addition to the Aquarium of the Pacific Board. Not only does he have a great appreciation for the ocean and all it has to offer, but also he carries the voice of the Aquarium farther, helping us expand. One of our goals is to broaden the geographic reach and influence of this great institution,” Board Director Tom Turney said.

A resident of Los Angeles, Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, Jr., known as Rod, is the co-founder and board chair for the Roddenberry Foundation. He is the son of the late Gene Roddenberry, creator of the Star Trek television series. Roddenberry has been the CEO of Studio City-based Roddenberry Entertainment since 2001. In 2010 he established the Roddenberry Dive Team and launched the Roddenberry Foundation. In addition to inspiring environmental conservation, the Roddenberry Dive Team provides members the opportunity to explore the “strange new worlds” that live below our ocean’s surface. The Roddenberry Foundation works towards a better tomorrow through its philanthropic efforts, funding innovative solutions to critical global issues in science and technology, the environment, education, and humanitarian advances.

“Personally and professionally, my vision is to help steward scientific advances supportive of positive environmental and social change. I’ve been a SCUBA diver since 1993, and my passion for the ocean compels me to support education about the importance of our world’s ecological balance and the development of innovative solutions that protect our aquatic habitats for generations. I’m proud to be a part of the Aquarium of the Pacific’s endeavor to shift paradigms and inspire policy initiatives that could potentially achieve long-term protection of our ocean communities,” Roddenberry said.

“We are delighted that Rod Roddenberry has continued the family legacy to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before through his work on Star Trek, the X Prize, the Roddenberry Dive Team, and the Roddenberry Foundation. We are particularly excited that he will be bringing this commitment to the Aquarium as we explore the strange new world of our ocean, seek new life forms, and boldly take our visitors where their imagination and sense of wonder has not gone before,” said Steven Mayer, Board Director, Aquarium of the Pacific.

In this editorial, Aquarium of the Pacific President and CEO Jerry Schubel discusses the Southern California Urban Ocean and its potential for contributing to the state’s economic recovery. He also advocates for strategies to protect marine life and promote sustainability.

The ocean is rarely mentioned as a possible contributor to solving the nation’s and the state’s financial problems. That’s too bad. The World Ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface, the United States has the largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of any nation—the zone out to 200 nautical miles from shore—and California has an ocean rich in resources, renewable and non-renewable, and in untapped opportunity.

Nowhere in the state are those opportunities greater than in the Southern California Bight, the region between Santa Barbara and the U.S.-Mexico border. The five coastal counties in the region are home to more than 17 million people, more than the populations of all but three states. Southern Californians make intensive and diverse uses of their coastal ocean. It is home to the nation’s two largest container ports, to all twenty-seven of the state’s offshore oil platforms, and to all six of its offshore oil islands. The Southern California Bight receives more than 1.1 billion gallons of treated municipal wastewater every day. And yet, it is here where California’s ocean culture is raised perhaps to its highest level. No other comparable area of the nation’s ocean has a greater diversity and intensity of human uses for recreation and for re-creation. Swimming, surfing, wind-surfing, kayaking, bird watching, beachcombing, SCUBA diving, boating, and fishing… if it can be done near, on, or in the water, it is done here and by huge numbers of people.

The region is intensively used not only by humans, but also by marine life. Tagging of migratory species of fish and marine mammals has demonstrated that the Southern California Bight is one of the most heavily visited areas in the entire Pacific Ocean. These animals share the ocean with humans in relative harmony.

The Southern California Bight is the nation’s prototypical “urban ocean.” The world ocean is becoming increasingly urbanized and the challenge is to protect coastal and ocean ecosystems while accommodating uses by humans for societal and economic benefit. One strategy is to allocate space to nature and to appropriate human activity to minimize conflict. California is a leader in identifying and designating places of special biological significance as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The next step is to use the best science to systematically allocate space to important human uses to minimize conflict with marine life and to contribute to local and regional economies.

This region has some of the world’s leading oceanographic institutions. The Southern California Urban Ocean could become a national laboratory for designing, developing, applying, and refining strategies for protecting marine life while accommodating important uses by humans. The two are not incompatible. Posturing and permitting often get in the way. Our permitting and regulatory frameworks often make it impossible to take advantage of the advances in scientific understanding in a timely way to benefit society. The 1992 report California’s Jobs and Future by the Council on California Competitiveness stated that California had “a permitting and regulatory quagmire that…in some cases causes projects to take longer to get started than it took the United States to win World War II.” Things have changed little since then. In natural systems often one of the best ways to enhance productivity is to relax constraints. This is also true of social and economic systems. We should not compromise our high ocean standards, but we should have a permitting process that is transparent and predictable and that encourages appropriate uses of our ocean to benefit California.

It’s time to get started. Using the best science, an offshore ocean enterprise zone should be identified. The state should take the lead in securing all the base permits. Environmental expectations should be set high. Industries in appropriate sectors should be encouraged to apply for space. Lease fees could provide funding for management and monitoring to ensure compliance. If standards are met, the venture should be eligible for an extension of its lease in time and perhaps in space. If they fail to meet the standards, they should be evicted and penalties should be assessed.

Studies have shown that in a small percentage of state waters within the Southern California Bight we could accommodate a multi-billion-dollar-a-year offshore aquaculture industry that could supply a stable supply of healthful seafood and provide well-paying jobs without interfering with commercial fisheries or compromising environmental quality. Other industries compatible with finfish aquaculture include seaweed aquaculture for bio-fuel and production of a variety of derivative products; and renewable energy from wind farms. These activities would help conserve what is left of our working waterfront.

Let’s continue to bring the best minds to the table in the search for strategies to protect marine life and to use our ocean for maximum benefit to California on a sustainable basis. Let’s translate those strategies into action before the end of 2012.

Jerry R. Schubel, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Aquarium of the Pacific

There are few places in the world where you can stand in one spot and have the potential of spotting two dozen species of marine mammals. One of those places is in the Aquarium of the Pacific own backyard. The cliffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula just a few miles up the coast offers a unique vantage point for sighting marine mammals without having the threat of sea sickness.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is home to a small group of raptors, or birds of prey, including the American Kestrel. It is the smallest, most common, and most colorful of the North American falcons. They feed on small rodents, helping to curb populations of so-called nuisance species like mice. American Kestrels are the only North American falcon that regularly hunts by kiting, or sailing on the wind. They are found throughout the Americas, from south of the Arctic tree line to regions of South America, preferring to hunt in open fields, marshlands, deserts, and suburban areas with high perches like telephone wires.

American Kestrels eat a wide variety of small prey, including insects, rodents, small birds, reptiles, and amphibians. They fly with rapid wing beats and then hover using the kiting behavior when they spot potential prey. They will then fold in their wings and swoop to the ground to grab their prey with their sharp talons. These raptors are territorial and solitary, except during breeding and migrating seasons. They can tolerate high temperatures in the desert and do not require a source of drinking water, instead getting moisture from their food.

The Aquarium’s American Kestrel Orion makes appearances on the glove of a trainer as a program animal, allowing guests to get an up-close look.

The American Cetacean Society (ACS) is a non-profit organization that advocates for marine mammal conservation. ACS has been counting gray whales during their annual migration and tallying the number of animals spotted each day, month, and season for twenty eight years.  The 2011/2012 gray whale season has just started and we’re already breaking records!

The Aquarium of the Pacific has had a long-standing partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Aquarium works closely with scientists and policymakers at NOAA in developing its exhibits as well as in planning and executing the Aquarium’s Aquatic Forums and Aquatic Academy courses. NOAA scientists have also participated in the Aquarium’s Guest Speaker series and served as sources for articles in the Aquarium’s member magazine, Pacific Currents.

Most recently, Aquarium of the Pacific President and CEO Jerry Schubel was appointed to a second term on NOAA’s Science Advisory Board. In this position, Schubel will help provide guidance for the agency’s future activities, particularly ocean exploration.

Members of the public can learn more about NOAA by attending the Aquarium’s annual NOAA Day event. NOAA Day 2012, to be held November 17, will feature TERRI the artificially intelligent robot and interactive booths, where visitors can learn more about a variety of NOAA programs, the ocean, climate, and more. Visitors will learn how NOAA works to understand and predict changes in Earth’s environment to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources.

There are seven species of abalone native to California. Two of those species, white abalone and black abalone, are listed as endangered and three others, including the green abalone, are designated as species of concern under the Endangered Species Act. Because they are considered a delicacy, abalone have suffered from overfishing and frequently do not live in high enough density to successfully reproduce.

These marine mollusks are known for their shells, which are oval shaped and have a metallic, pearlescent sheen on the inside. Abalone feed on kelp and algae and make their homes in rocky tidal areas. They reproduce through spawning, primarily in the summer months.

To aid in the conservation efforts for these animals in Southern California, the Aquarium of the Pacific is conducting an abalone captive rearing and education project. It is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Southwest Regional Office and conducted in conjunction with the California Department of Fish and Game. With the support of these two agencies, the Aquarium constructed a first-of-its-kind abalone propagation system.

The Aquarium’s abalone program began in 2008 and is now in its second phase. In the first phase, we completed the propagation system and developed educational materials. Goals for the second phase include successful cultivation of red and white abalone, expanded educational programming, and targeted programming for students in grades nine through twelve. With funds from NMFS, touch exhibits in the Aquarium’s classrooms have been retrofitted to accommodate red abalone.

Since August of 2008 my wife Pam and I have been conducting an informal survey of the green sea turtles of the San Gabriel River for the Aquarium of the Pacific. While Pam handles the data gathering portion of the research I have the responsibility of photo documenting the resident turtles of this river that runs between Los Angeles and Orange County. In this week’s blog I’d like to share a few of the images that I’ve shot this past year of these improbable urban river residents.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is partnering with newly launched nonprofit organization Sustainable Surf to turn Styrofoam waste into surfboards. The Aquarium will host a foam collection drive on January 14 to support Sustainable Surf’s Waste to Waves program. Through this program expanded polystyrene, also known as plastic No. 6 or Styrofoam, is recycled into eco-friendly surfboards. Everyone who turns in a piece of Styrofoam at the Aquarium will receive a 20 percent-off coupon in the Aquarium’s Pacific Collection gift store valid on January 14.

This type of foam packaging is commonly used with electronics and other products that are given as popular holiday gifts. Members of the public are encouraged to save their foam packaging waste after the holidays and bring it to the Aquarium, where it will be collected and recycled into surfboards. The foam will be transported to Marko Foam in Irvine, California, to be recycled into new surfboard blanks.

Most people are not aware that the same type of polystyrene foam material used to package electronics is also used to make surfboards. Recycling the foam packaging into a surfboard eliminates 50 percent of the carbon emissions associated with manufacturing a surfboard. The new eco-friendly surfboard boasts the same performance and durability of a board made from virgin petrochemical materials. Not only does this program reduce the surfboard carbon footprint, but also it helps keep Styrofoam out of the ocean where it is frequently ingested by marine animals that mistake the tiny foam particles for food.

Under the Sustainable Surf Waste to Waves campaign, people can also bring waste polystyrene foam to surf shops in California that have collection bins. Waste to Waves partner organizations include Sustainable Surf, SPY, Reef, Marko Foam, the Surfrider Foundation, and Waste Management. For more information and drop-off locations, visit wastetowaves.org.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is hosting a traveling exhibition featuring internationally acclaimed aerial photos that capture the aftermath of the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Striking images of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill hang, surrounded by live animals, around the Aquarium’s walls.

Photographer Daniel Beltrá shot the photos during May and June 2010 on assignment for Greenpeace off the coast of Louisiana. The exhibition featuring Beltrá’s work, SPILL: Images from the Gulf, is on display at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach through January 15, 2012. The public is invited to visit the exhibition at the Southern California aquarium before it travels to Spain.

Beltrá’s aerial images depict the Deepwater Horizon accident site, relief well drilling platforms, controlled burns, boats and skimmer ships that were brought in to monitor and assist in the containment efforts, planes dropping dispersant, and brown pelicans covered in oil. The captions that accompany the images tell the story of the spill and its aftermath as well as some of the impacts that have been observed on animals, plants, and economies.

Photos from this exhibition were used to select Daniel Beltrá as the Wildlife Photographer of the Year for the 2011 Veolia Environment photo contest. Access to the SPILL exhibition is included with Aquarium admission.