FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:                        1/27/98 
Dr. Barbara Elkus
COASTAL AMERICA 
Washington, DC
Ken Peterson
MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM
Monterey, CA
Dan Dewell
NOAA 
Silver Spring, MD

Most people have heard that eating fish makes you smarter -- but just visiting the fish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium can increase your intelligence. Coastal America, a partnership of federal agencies that works to protect, preserve and restore the nation's coastal resources, has designated the aquarium as a Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center, a status which leads to federal assistance in public education and conservation programs at the facility, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.

Federal officials, including Assistant Secretary of the Navy Robert B. Pirie, Jr. and Dr. Nancy Foster, head of NOAA's National Ocean Service, joined executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation Julie Packard, noted ocean scientist Dr. Sylvia Earle, and others to recognize the designation during ceremonies held at the aquarium today.

NOAA's Dr. Foster pointed out the crucial role of local facilities such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium in public education on ocean issues. "Tomorrow I'm attending the official kickoff for the nation's celebration of the 'Year of the Ocean' back in Washington, D.C., but it's here, in places like this, that real public education and understanding of the ocean and coastal stewardship takes place," she said. "Every year is the 'Year of the Ocean' to Julie Packard and people like her who make our nation's aquaria valuable centers of discovery and education."

Dr. Earle echoed Foster's comments on the importance of public education on ocean and coastal issues. "Enhancing public education on the value and importance of the oceans is critical to ensuring the protection of the oceans for future generations," she said.

Monterey Bay is the sixth aquarium to be designated as a Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center by Coastal America and the first on the West Coast. Others are: the New England Aquarium in Boston; the Florida Aquarium in Tampa; Mystic Marinelife Aquarium in Mystic, Conn.; the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Md.; and the Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Monterey Bay Aquarium was the first major U. S. aquarium to focus on the marine life of a single region, the waters of Central California. The Aquarium's mission is to inspire conservation of the ocean.

Learning Center designation is the first step in a process of cooperation between Coastal America and the aquarium. Coastal America federal partners provide unique skills, exhibits, hard to find items or other special assistance. Support for Monterey Bay Aquarium will include: grey whale baleen from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service; native plants for landscaping from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service; a mounted marbled murrelet, a threatened species of sea bird, from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service; plus educational materials and videos produced by various member agencies.

Coastal America was established in 1992. Federal partners include the Departments of Agriculture, Air Force, Army, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Navy, Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Executive Office of the President.