Ocean Reports

In December 2018 the Aquarium of the Pacific partnered with the Phoenix Island Protected Area Trust and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to host a workshop on super corals with coral experts from around the world, including representatives from Pacific Island nations. A report on the workshop’s proceedings and resulting plans for identifying, acquiring, and propagating super corals in partnership with public aquariums is now available.

Aquarium of the Pacific President and CEO Jerry Schubel chaired a study committee for the National Science Foundation. The committee assessed the value and role of field stations, marine laboratories, and nature reserves.

Responsibly produced aquaculture, farming for fish and other seafood, holds great promise as part of a solution to ever increasing pressures on our ocean resources. This report summarizes a workshop where participants from diverse disciplines discussed and debated key factual statements about aquaculture that institutions should consider when creating messaging on the topic for their publics.

NOAA and the Aquarium of the Pacific co-authored a report detailing priorities for ocean exploration in the United States. The report was drafted during the first-ever gathering of modern-day ocean explorers held at the Aquarium in July 2013 and organized by NOAA and Aquarium officials.

Released in 2009, this report summarizes the science of climate change and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future. It is largely based on results of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and integrates those results with related research from around the world.

Released by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy on September 20, 2004, An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century contains the Commission’s findings and recommendations for a new, coordinated, and comprehensive national ocean policy.

On June 4, 2004 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger submitted his comments on the Preliminary Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which documented California’s leadership in ocean and coastal management and provided the Governor’s call for strong actions at all levels of government to protect and manage these resources. In his comments the Governor stated, “Your report is a wake-up call that the oceans are in trouble and in need of help. In response to this need, actions must take place at the international, national, state, regional and local levels, as these issues are just as important globally as they are to the citizen trying to protect the waters off a local beach.”

Both the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission have identified an emerging national crisis situation regarding this nation’s ocean and coastal resources.

Recommendations for a New Ocean Policy May 2003

The Pew Oceans Commission, a bipartisan, independent group of American leaders, was created to chart a new course for the nation’s ocean policy. The report of the Pew Oceans Commission, issued in May 2003, outlines a national agenda for protecting and restoring our oceans.

On September 23, 2008, the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Long Beach Water Department convened and facilitated a forum to explore how southern California could make-up for these losses in water supply from the Delta.

The situation is compounded by losses from the Colorado River which supplies an additional 15-17% of the region’s total water use and which has experienced a severe drought for the past eight years. The forum brought together water experts, policy-makers, water managers, and environmentalists. The forum consisted of formal presentations to provide context and to explore options for diversifying southern California’s water supply portfolio, and interactive workshop sessions to review, revise, and refine each of the options. The forum concluded with an opportunity for the entire group to respond to the findings and recommendations for each option and to modify them.

This brief report is a summary of the findings and recommendations. All have the support of most, if not all, of the participants.