The mission of the Georgia Aquarium is to “provide an entertaining, engaging and educational experience inspiring stewardship in conservation, research and the appreciation for the animal world!”
There are many areas that this research has its focus. Some involve animal species that have not been observed in a zoological setting before such as our whale sharks. The Georgia Aquarium is the only Aquarium in North America to house these animals and through research we have been able to gain valuable insight into their anatomy and physiology that will help us provide for the health and welfare of these fish. There are many other research projects being conducted here as well as at our newest acquisition sites: DCFS (Dolphin Conservation Field Station) and DCC (Dolphin Conservation Center). See below for some current GAI research projects.
Georgia Aquarium Research Projects
1. Whale Shark
Georgia Aquarium will conduct our whale shark research efforts using in-house staff, rather than partner institutions. Bruce Carlson and Al Dove will lead the project, which has three parts: continued population monitoring, characterizing the “afuera” aggregation and studying how whale sharks find food in the open ocean. The first part will continue our population assessment and aerial survey work of the last few years, in collaboration with Mexican government agency CONANP and Proyecto Domino. The second will more closely investigate an offshore aggregation of whale sharks near Isla Contoy that was especially dense in 2009, focusing in particular on what they are eating (preliminary evidence says fish spawn). The third will attempt to answer the question of how whale sharks find food in the vast expanses of the open ocean, paying special attention to several promising odor molecules they may use to sniff out patches of plankton.
2. Dolphins-Mercury
It has been known for some time that dolphins can accumulate the heavy metal mercury in their tissues. This project will try to define the sources of mercury that contaminate dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon in Florida, by measuring mercury levels in dolphin tissue samples and relating these to mercury in the prey items that dolphins commonly feed on, and to which parts of the lagoon the dolphins and prey are living in.
3. Beluga whales
This project continues our earlier collaborative work in Alaska that aims to understand the health of free-ranging populations of beluga whales in Bristol Bay. This information is used to help understand the endangered population of belugas in Cook Inlet, Alaska, and belugas in general. Earlier work focused on developing good field methods and understanding blood and other tissue analyses. This year, efforts will focus more on nutritional aspects, using a suite of methods to work out what and when belugas are eating.
4. Northern Right Whales
This year, for the first time, Georgia Aquarium will participate in research on the Georgia State Marine Mammal, the Northern Right Whale; joining a consortium of stakeholders committed to better understanding and preserving one of the most endangered whale species.
5. Sea Turtles
This conservation-science project aims to determine how many loggerhead turtles nest in the Wassaw Island National Wildlife Refuge. We have given a grant to the Fish and Wildlife Service to carry out this project. GAI Volunteers may also be involved in the monitoring.