Hubbs Sea World Research Institute

HUBBS-SEAWORLD RESEARCH INSTITUTE (THE INSTITUTE) WAS ORGANIZED PURSUANT TO THE GENERAL NONPROFIT CORPORATION LAW OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. THE PRIMARY PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE INSTITUTE WAS FORMED IS TO CONDUCT BIOLOGICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND OTHER GENERAL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES, AND TO ENGAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGIES WHICH WILL ENHANCE PUBLIC AWARENESS AND MANKINDS DEDICATION TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE RESPONSIBILITY IN BOTH THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR.

SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD CONDUCTED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON 26 SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD PROJECTS, FEEDING A HUNGRY WORLD AND RESTORING DEPLETED FISH POPULATIONS. AQUACULTURE IS A PRACTICAL SOLUTION TO RENEWING REGIONAL FISH STOCKS, PRODUCING DOMESTIC SUPPLIES OF SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD, AND REDUCING THE NEED FOR FRESH WATER TO PRODUCE TERRESTRIAL ANIMAL PROTEIN AS A FOOD SOURCE.THIS YEAR, THE WHITE SEABASS HATCHERY PROGRAM (OREHP) CONTINUED REFINING AND EVALUATING OUR COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH WITH THE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES ON THE USE OF GENETIC MARKERS TO IDENTIFY HATCHERY-REARED FISH FROM WILD STOCKS. MUCH EFFORT WAS SPENT WORKING WITH THE OREHP SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO IDENTIFY RESEARCH PRIORITIES FOR THE PROGRAM AND NEXT STEPS FOR USING GENETIC TECHNIQUES TO EVALUATE ENHANCEMENT EFFORTS. THIS EFFORT INCLUDED COLLECTING ADDITIONAL HEADS FROM COMMERCIAL AND RECREATIONAL FISHERS TO OBTAIN NEW GENETIC SAMPLES AND IDENTIFY CODED WIRE TAGS USING BOTH TRADITIONAL SENSORS AS WELL AS X-RAY IMAGING. FOLLOW-ON FUNDING FROM THE SALTONSTALL-KENNEDY PROGRAM HAS BEEN AWARDED AND INCLUDES WORK TO DEVELOP A FIN-CLIP GENETIC SAMPLE COLLECTION FEASIBILITY PROGRAM. RESEARCH ON YELLOWTAIL AND HALIBUT CONTINUED THIS YEAR, SUPPORTED BY VARIOUS GRANTS AND PRIVATE CONTRIBUTIONS. YELLOWTAIL RESEARCH CONTINUES TO FOCUS ON MAXIMIZING THE QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF PRODUCED FISH, FOCUSING ON NEW SELF-CLEANING TANK SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT, LARVAL NUTRITION, SWIM BLADDER INFLATION, AND DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE FEED FORMULATIONS. ONGOING HALIBUT RESEARCH REMAINS FOCUSED ON THE EFFECTS OF STRESSORS, LIKE WATER TEMPERATURE, ON SEX DETERMINATION IN YOUNG HALIBUT. NEW GENETIC MARKER TOOLS ARE BEING DEVELOPED TO ASSIST IN IDENTIFYING SEX AT EARLIER LIFE STAGES, AS WELL AS PIGMENTATION ANOMALIES. IN ADDITION, RECENTLY PUBLISHED WORK HIGHLIGHTED THE IMPORTANCE OF RELEASE-STRATEGY VARIABLES IN MARINE STOCK ENHANCEMENT, SUCH AS FISH SIZE, NUMBER, AND SEX, USING HALIBUT AS AN EXAMPLE SPECIES. THESE INTERCONNECTED FACTORS WERE SHOWN TO INFLUENCE POST-RELEASE SURVIVAL. FOR EXAMPLE, REARING LARGER FISH MAY RAISE COSTS AND REDUCE THE NUMBER RELEASED. THE RESEARCH ALSO SUGGESTS THAT IF CULTURE PROTOCOLS DISPROPORTIONALLY FAVOR ONE SEX, IT COULD ALTER THE WILD-SEX RATIO. UNDERSTANDING THESE VARIABLES IS CRUCIAL FOR HATCHERY DESIGN AND FUTURE STOCK ENHANCEMENT EFFORTS.HSWRIS RESEARCH ON INTEGRATED MULTI-TROPHIC AQUACULTURE (IMTA) CONTINUED TO EXPAND THIS YEAR AND SUCCESSFULLY INCORPORATED ADDITIONAL INVERTEBRATE AND MACROALGAE SPECIES INTO RECIRCULATING AND FLOW-THROUGH SYSTEMS AT BOTH OUR MISSION BAY AND CARLSBAD LABORATORIES. WE WORKED WITH COMMERCIAL FISHERS TO SOURCE SEA CUCUMBERS, SEA URCHINS, AND PACIFIC CALICO SCALLOPS AND TESTED THE EFFICACY OF SOLID WASTE REMOVAL FROM FINFISH EFFLUENT WATER. ADDITIONALLY, NEW INFRASTRUCTURE AND SYSTEMS WERE DEVELOPED TO SUPPORT GROWING AND MAINTAINING STOCK CULTURES OF MICROALGAE AND MACROALGAE THAT WERE FOUND TO EFFECTIVELY ABSORB SOME DISSOLVED NUTRIENTS IN FISH EFFLUENT WATER, AS WELL AS PROVIDE A FOOD SOURCE FOR FEEDING LARVAL SEA URCHINS AND SCALLOPS. MUCH EFFORT WAS SPENT REFINING LIFE SUPPORT AND CULTURE TECHNIQUES FOR THESE NEW SPECIES TO PROVIDE AN ONGOING SUPPLY OF THESE SPECIES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH, WITH ONGOING SUPPORT FUNDED BY THE SALTONSTALL-KENNEDY PROGRAM.

OCEAN HEALTH CONDUCTED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON 6 PROJECTS ON OCEAN HEALTH, PROMOTING A HEALTHIER PLANET WHERE HUMANS AND MARINE LIFE THRIVE TOGETHER. TO ADVANCE OCEAN HEALTH, WE STUDY WAYS TO PREVENT DISEASE TRANSMISSION, PROMOTE ECOSYSTEM HEALTH AND RESILIENCE, AND PROVIDE RAPID FIRST RESPONSE TO MARINE LIFE STRANDINGS AND ENTANGLEMENTS. HSWRI PROVIDED 24/7 FIRST RESPONSE TO STRANDED WHALES AND DOLPHINS IN FLORIDA FOR 50 EVENTS, INCLUDING 10 LIVE STRANDINGS. HSWRI IS RESPONSIBLE FOR STRANDING RESPONSE AND COORDINATION FOR 222 KM OF THE NORTH AND CENTRAL EAST COAST OF FLORIDA (ABOUT 40% OF FLORIDAS EAST COAST), AS WELL AS RESPONSE WITHIN AROUND 1800 KM2 OF ESTUARINE WATERS. THIS PORTION OF FLORIDA AVERAGES 67 STRANDINGS A YEAR AND IS ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE AREAS FOR STRANDINGS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN U.S., RECEIVING BOTH LIVE AND DEAD CETACEANS, INCLUDING LARGE WHALES, MASS STRANDINGS, AND UNUSUAL SPECIES SUCH AS BEAKED WHALES AND MELON-HEADED WHALES. HSWRIS RESPONSE AREA COVERS THREE COASTAL COUNTIES, INCLUDING THE FEDERAL LANDS WITHIN AND SURROUNDING THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, AND HSWRI RESPONDS TO MORE STRANDINGS THAN ANY OTHER ORGANIZATION IN FLORIDA. UTILIZING OUR LONG-TERM DATASETS, OUR SCIENTISTS INVESTIGATED CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN BOTH INDIAN RIVER LAGOON DOLPHINS AND ELUSIVE PYGMY AND DWARF SPERM WHALES. OF 790 DOLPHIN STRANDINGS RECORDED FROM 2002 2020, OUR RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT STRANDED LAGOON DOLPHINS WERE EMACIATED AND IMMUNOCOMPROMISED PRIMARILY DUE TO POLLUTION AND TOXIC ALGAE BLOOMS. IN ADDITION TO POOR HEALTH, TRAUMA ACCOUNTED FOR OVER A THIRD OF STRANDINGS. OF THOSE WHO DIED FROM TRAUMA-RELATED IMPACTS, NEARLY 60% WERE CAUSED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY, WITH MOST CASES DUE TO ENTANGLEMENT, FISHING GEAR OR OTHER DEBRIS INGESTION, AND PROPELLER STRIKES.WE CONTINUE TO COLLABORATE ON SEVERAL COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS AIMED AT BETTER UNDERSTANDING WHALE AND DOLPHIN HEALTH, INCLUDING INVESTIGATING THE PRESENCE OF MICROPLASTICS IN THESE ANIMALS. THIS YEAR, OUR TEAM DEDICATED MANY HOURS IN THE LABORATORY, IDENTIFYING MICROPLASTICS OBTAINED FROM THE GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT OF DOLPHINS HELPING TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE ACCUMULATION OF THESE PLASTICS MAY IMPACT DOLPHIN HEALTH. OVER THE PAST YEAR, WE HAVE ADVANCED THE INSTITUTES MISSION BY ESTABLISHING KEY COLLABORATIONS WITH REGIONAL LEADERS IN RESTORATIVE AQUACULTURE. SPECIFICALLY, WE HAVE DEVELOPED PARTNERSHIPS WITH SEAGRASS AND SHELLFISH CULTIVATION COMPANIES AND WITH BREVARD ZOOS RESTORE OUR SHORES PROGRAM TO ACCELERATE HABITAT RESTORATION PROJECTS. THROUGH THESE CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS, WE CAN BETTER ADDRESS CHALLENGES STEMMING FROM HUMAN DISTURBANCES, HABITAT LOSS, POLLUTION, AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

EDUCATION AND OUTREACHCONDUCTED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON 4 GRANT-FUNDED EDUCATION AND OUTREACH PROJECTS, INSPIRING A LOVE FOR SCIENCE. WE ARE COMMITTED TO CREATING FUTURE CITIZEN ADVOCATES FOR OCEAN HEALTH AND MARINE LIFE BY ADVANCING PUBLIC APPRECIATION FOR SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. HSWRI SCIENTISTS WORK WITH STUDENTS AT ALL LEVELS, COMMITTED TO A K TO GRAY LIFELONG LEARNING APPROACH TO INSPIRING ALL CITIZENS TO BE OCEAN STEWARDS WITH AN APPRECIATION FOR SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY, TARGETING TITLE 1 SCHOOLS FOR OUTREACH AND PRESENTATIONS. SEABASS IN THE CLASSROOM (SITC) CONTINUED THIS YEAR WITH 13 SCHOOLS ACROSS SAN DIEGO, LOS ANGELES, AND ORANGE COUNTIES PARTICIPATING IN THE RAISING AND RELEASING OF WHITE SEABASS. ADDITIONAL SCHOOLS ARE IN THE PROCESS OF JOINING SITC FOR THE SPRING OF 2024. DURING THE PAST YEAR, WE DEVELOPED PLANS TO HIRE AN EDUCATION AND OUTREACH MANAGER COMMITTED TO GROWING THIS PROGRAM, IN PARTICULAR BY WORKING TO BRING THESE SYSTEMS TO TITLE 1 AND MINORITY-SERVING SCHOOL DISTRICTS THAT OFTEN LACK ROBUST STEM EDUCATION PROGRAMS. FURTHER, WE CONTINUED OUR WORK TO INSPIRE HANDS-ON AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES, WITH MORE THAN 500 STUDENTS VISITING THE CARLSBAD HATCHERY AND MISSION BAY FACILITIES FOR EDUCATIONAL TOURS AND CAREER CHATS WITH SCIENTISTS.THE INSTITUTE HAS LONG WORKED TO INCREASE THE INVOLVEMENT OF TRADITIONALLY UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUPS IN STEM (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, MATH) CAREERS. THE EFFORT EXPANDED THIS YEAR AND INCLUDED OUR DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION COMMITTEE AT HSWRI TO HIGHLIGHT OUR COMMITMENT TO A DIVERSE, EQUITABLE, AND INCLUSIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT. IN ADDITION, EFFORT WAS MADE TO FORMALIZE PAID INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLEGE-AGE STUDENTS OVER THE SUMMER TO PROVIDE THEM WITH INVALUABLE HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WORKING ALONGSIDE OUR RESEARCHERS. THE INSTITUTE PLEDGES TO PROVIDE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMPLOYMENT, VOLUNTEERING, REPRESENTATION, AND ADVANCEMENT IN ALL AREAS OF OUR WORK.