Can we have our crabs and eat them too?

For Marylanders summer time is the season for steamed crabs! The Chesapeake Bay has been home to the blue crab for over a century. The blue crab became so prevalent in the Bay that this beloved crustacean evolved into the unofficial mascot. Unfortunately, Maryland’s love for the blue crab has led to overfishing and habitat degradation – resulting in a drastic drop in crab population. The population level of blue crabs is at or near the lowest ever recorded. Today, only one out of a million nearly hatched crabs survives to maturity because of disease, predators, habitat loss, sudden cold temperatures, and over harvesting.
 
This year Maryland legislators voted to end the crab harvesting season seven weeks early in an effort to give the blue crab a “breather” and boost the population. While legislators are working tirelessly to restore the state of the Bay and crab population, the National Aquarium in Baltimore is taking action through education and habitat restoration projects.  
 
The Aquarium sponsors a program called AquaPartners that educates students on how to preserve the bay and participants have the opportunity to catch, hold, and release a crab. The Aquarium also organizes volunteer conservation clean ups and educational events that teach the community how to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its many mascots. And many of the exhibits at the Aquarium highlight the environmental issues surrounding Maryland’s coastal habitats. Be sure to visit aqua.org for more information on how you can contribute to the restoration of the blue crab. Do your part for them now, and they’ll be around to enjoy for years to come! 

Live like you love the ocean

The San Jose Mercury News recently posted an opinion on its blog that caught the eyes of quite a few staff members here at the Aquarium. We loved its central message, to “live like you love the ocean.” The author, Wallace J. Nichols, is a senior scientist at the Ocean Conservancy – a nonprofit headquartered in Washington, DC – that serves to restore sustainable American fisheries, protect wildlife from human impacts, conserve special ocean places, and reform government for better ocean stewardship. 

To read the entire story, visit the San Jose Mercury News. 

For more ideas on how to shop, eat, vacation, and vote like you love the ocean, check out the Aquarium’s Beyond the Boardwalk events, which start tonight!

 

Go beyond the boardwalk

Green Tip #3: The National Aquarium encourages you to go “Beyond the Boardwalk” this summer. We believe that ocean health begins at home and are constantly encouraging our visitors to make smart choices when it comes to the environment. However, there are also simple things you can do while vacationing at a beach or lake this summer to be mindful of the environment and its local inhabitants – the animals! Here are five easy tips to enjoy and protect the beaches and waterways you visit:

1. Leave only footprints. Pursuing, touching, or collecting animals can be dangerous to the person and the animal involved. Appreciate the beauty of nature by only observing and taking photos.
2. Be mindful of fishing gear. Aquatic animals can swallow discarded hooks and can get dangerously entangled in fishing lines.
3. Obey the signs- stay off dunes. They protect land during storms and are habitats for a number of animals.
4. Go green and bug off. Use mint- or eucalyptus-based bug repellants to protect your skin and the Earth.
5. Have fun learning! Visit nature centers, museums, zoos, and aquariums to learn about the local environment.

Be sure to check out our annual event, Beyond the Boardwalk, a series of events celebrating ocean life, and sharing ways to protect and restore our local waterways for thousands of animals that call them home. The festival on the pier this weekend will feature a variety of exciting and interactive programs, games, and stories on ways can be responsible and get involved! Visit aqua.org for details!

 

We’re expecting!

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is proud to announce the pregnancy of two bottlenose dolphins! Chesapeake and Shiloh are both expected to give birth in August.

Director of Animal Health Leigh Clayton works closely with the Marine Mammal team to manage the well being of the dolphins at the Aquarium. Leigh and her staff utilize ultrasounds to confirm pregnancy in dolphins. Blood hormone values (specifically progesterone) are also measured routinely and are often the first indication that an animal may be pregnant.

However, progesterone levels also increase during ovulation and may remain elevated for weeks after a normal ovulation. In addition, pseudopregnancy is possible in dolphins and hormone levels may remain elevated as if the animal is pregnant, but no fetus is present. Ultrasound is the only way to reliably confirm pregnancy. The gestational sac can be visualized as early as 4 weeks after conception and fetal heartbeat and skeletal structures can be seen as early as 6 weeks, though in our setting these are more typically seen at 8 weeks. When a pregnancy is suspected, the veterinarians and trainers work together to obtain ultrasound exams on the animals every 1-2 weeks.

Please continue visiting WaterLog for the latest updates from the Marine Mammal team as the Aquarium prepares for the births of two calves!

Great white sharks: magnificent mysteries

By Guest Contributor Richard Theiss, owner of RTSea Productions

Great white sharks: one of the most magnificent and misunderstood of all the ocean’s creations. Perhaps you already appreciate the vital role sharks play in maintaining balance in the marine ecosystem, but when it comes to the great white, that’s where you draw the line. If so, come to the National Aquarium in Baltimore for a screening of Island of the Great White Shark on June 18th at 7 p.m. (For ticketing information, click here or call 410-727-3474.) 

As executive producer and cinematographer of Island of the Great White Shark, the Aquarium has honored me with the opportunity to kick off the Beyond the Boardwalk summer event series. Here is a chance to see an accurate and up-close portrait of these amazing animals and to learn about the vital research of marine scientists dedicated to protecting these sharks from possible extinction. And as we begin our summer fun, perhaps it’s a perfect time to set matters straight.

According to recent news reports, there would seem to be a heightened degree of shark activity from the California/Mexico coast to Martha’s Vineyard. In the end, it might just be one of those unexplained anomalies. But will the media pick up on this and herald a new “Summer of Jaws?”  Will people’s fear and misunderstanding be reinforced by sensationalistic reporting?

Well, as supporters of the National Aquarium and lovers of all things aquatic, that’s where you come in. As I have held screening/lectures for Island of the Great White Shark at major aquariums across the country, I find myself typically “preaching to the choir,” so I often pose this question: “Most of you here have probably never had or ever will have shark fin soup. So you may not be part of the problem, but how do we make you part of the solution?” That gets people scratching their heads.

We must all become disciples to the cause. We need to enlighten those who are still in the dark regarding shark-human interaction and shark conservation. With Island of the Great White Shark, I hope as many people as possible see and hear a different perspective regarding the public’s perceived “Darth Vader” of all sharks.

Whether it’s shark protection, marine conservation, or global warming, we need to make changes in our daily lives and we need to exercise our ability to influence others – our leaders, our nation, governments, and businesses – to move in the right direction. Act by example, vote by choice, influence by action.