At the New England Aquarium, we advance our mission to protect the blue planet by engaging with the public, creating partnerships, innovating through conservation research and fieldwork, and leading as advocates on behalf of the ocean.
Letter from Leadership
Dear Friends,
As members of the New England Aquarium community, you understand the importance of our mission to protect the blue planet. While the Aquarium has always been committed to maintaining a healthy ocean worldwide, this task has never been more important than it is today.
Read the Full Letter
With your support, the Aquarium accomplished a great deal on behalf of the ocean in 2018. Your generosity allowed scientists to perform comprehensive research and fieldwork—from cataloging many of the remaining North Atlantic right whales to rehabilitating and releasing hundreds of stranded sea turtles. Your involvement helped bolster our advocacy efforts, including publicly condemning threats to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and the Atlantic as a whole. Your engagement facilitated stronger partnerships between the Aquarium and a range of stakeholders, from global conservation leaders through our Marine Conservation Action Fund to those in the seafood industry seeking to sustainably source their products. Your contributions enabled us to find new ways to meaningfully engage with the public, whether through education initiatives around community climate resilience or through sensory-inclusive events. Your support has made a difference. Thank you!
Our work during 2018—a mere snapshot of which is captured in this report—is a reminder that together, we can succeed in protecting the ocean. We have already made headway, and our actions are continuing to gain momentum. We are proud of our contributions to aquatic conservation, youth development, and the city of Boston. As we celebrate our 50thanniversary, we are deeply grateful to our founders, board members, donors, staff, volunteers, and all those who have supported our work. Our history as a catalyst for change in the marine world and on the Boston waterfront is extraordinary. There is still much work to be done, but we have never been in a better position to do it.
Looking forward to the next 50 years as an aquarium, we envision the strides that we will undoubtedly make in global conservation. With science as our foundation, we will work tirelessly to underscore why the ocean needs our protection and find the solutions to make its future sustainable. Thank you for being an essential part of these efforts. Your continued participation enables us to step forward as an organization ready and able to make vital changes on behalf of the blue planet.
Your 2018 Support at Work
What We Do
Engage with the Public
At the Aquarium, we engage with a broad audience to show how we can all work together to protect the ocean — and the planet — more widely. We encourage the public to join us in our mission in a number of ways, such as:
Plastics Pollution Solutions
The Aquarium joined with more than 20 other aquariums across the country to inspire simple actions in a stand against single-use plastics.
First Step
HubWeek
The Aquarium's science café featured three lightning talks focused on shaping the future of the ocean.
Public Forums
KultureCity
We are committed to an Aquarium that is open, accessible, and inclusive to everyone.
Public Access
Climate Resilience: Engaging Communities in the Face of a Changing Ocean
As the outcomes of climate change become more evident, it is imperative that we prepare for the impact that rising sea levels and a warmer ocean will have on our communities. The Aquarium engages our neighbors–including those in East Boston–to build a climate-resilient future.
Create Partnerships
Our ocean conservation endeavors are leveraged by the lasting partnerships that we have built with a number of groups and through a range of initiatives, such as:
Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF)
MCAF aims to ensure global conservation leaders have the resources to achieve key ocean conservation impacts.
Global Conservation
Gorton's Seafood
Gorton's Seafood and the New England Aquarium celebrated a 10-year partnership of bringing sustainable seafood to consumers.
Sustainable Seafood
Promoting Education through Action for Conservation of Habitats (PEACH)
PEACH is a collaboration aimed at people from all backgrounds to volunteer to help foster healthy habitats in Massachusetts.
Promoting Education
MCAF: Partnering with Ocean Entrepreneurs Worldwide
The Aquarium’s MCAF initiative supports a global network of individuals eager to protect the ocean. In 2018, Fellows of the program had success in their work–including Andrés Lopéz, who secured support from Costa Rica to create a shark sanctuary in Golfo Dulce.
Innovate through Research and Fieldwork
The Aquarium’s scientists are leaders in ocean conservation. By taking to the field to gather extensive data and information, they work to find solutions to an array of threats. Our focus areas include:
Bycatch Reduction
Bycatch is a leading threat to many endangered animals and marine biodiversity around the world.
Discard Mortality
Sharks and Rays
Basic information on shark movements, population structure, behavior, and life-history is unknown for many species.
Shark Tagging
Sea Turtles
The world’s seven species of sea turtles are threatened due to unprecedented threats from humans.
Turtle Research
The Study of Sea Turtles: From Rescue to Release and Beyond
Each year, the New England Aquarium treats hundreds of endangered sea turtles that strand on our coastline. Using state-of-the-art tracking technology, Dr. Kara Dodge seeks to learn more about the behavior of these turtles in the wild.
Lead as Advocates
We enact positive change for the ocean through our advocacy efforts. The Aquarium has an influential voice in national and international conversations regarding the protection of the blue planet. These issues include:
Seismic Testing
We have joined a coalition to strongly oppose the administration’s actions along the Atlantic Seaboard.
Protect Our Coasts
Northeast Canyons and Seamounts
Aquarium President Vikki Spruill wrote an op-ed advocating for the monument.
Protectors of Blue
Climate Change
The Aquarium is part of a consortium of organizations committed to leadership on climate action.
Climate Action
Action through Advocacy: Opposing Oil and Gas Exploration
Industrialization is a major threat to our ocean ecosystems. When the U.S. government gave oil and gas companies the green light to explore for oil and gas through seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean, the Aquarium took a stand.
Financials
Board Leadership
Officers of the New England Aquarium Corporation
Vikki N. Spruill, President and CEO
Donna K. Hazard, Chair of the Board of Trustees
P. Eric Krauss, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer
Daniel S. Evans, Secretary of the Corporation
Board of Trustees
Donna K. Hazard, Chair
David Altshuler
Maliz E. Beams
David Bechhofer
Barbara Burgess
Thomas R. Burton III
Linda N. Cabot
Jared A. Chase
Barbara Eisenson
Daniel S. Evans
Dean Goodermote
Kathleen Healy
Timothy G. Healy
Pamela Petri-Humphrey
Alexander D. Leventhal, Ex-officio
Raymond F. Mui
Scott H. Page
Anne B. Peacher
Mary T. Renner
Duncan W. Richardson
Brian Skerry
Peter O. Wilde
Board of Overseers
Alexander D. Leventhal, Chair
Robert C. Trumbull, Vice Chair
James R. Andrew
James A. Atwood
Robert G. Bannish
Cynthia A. Becton
Michael J. Bohnen, Esq.
George D. Buckley
Carolyn J. Campanelli
W. Reed Chisholm II
John M. Cohen, M.D.
Christopher T. Cuddy
Paul W. DiMaura
Alan R. Dynner
Jennifer D. Eielson
Kerry A. Emanuel, Ph.D.
Katharine B. Fagan
Michael W. Fish
Dozier L. Gardner
John M. Gray
Ellen W. Griggs
Bowman Hallagan
Mark Hastings
Winston E. Henderson
Ann P. Hochberg
Pamela R. Holding
Danny Kalmar
Mary Alice Karol
Margaret C.H. Kelly
Stephanie Kube
Douglas J. Lober
Michael S. Lorber
Alistair Lowe
Laurence P. Madin, Ph.D.
Deborah J. Manus
Stephen J. Mastrocola
Michael E. Mooney
Brooke N. Muggia
Charles F. Nadler
Alison Nolan
Kim J. Ogden
Richard C. Pierce
Caroline Rando
Mr. Brian Rivotto
Kitt Sawitsky
Samuel Slater
Jonathan F. Stone
Kevin Joseph Sullivan
James W. Taylor
Arnaud Tesson
David A. Trust
Michelle P. Vilms
Charles S. Willauer
William J. Wolf
Magellan Society
Jeffrey H. Pierce, Chair
George R. Baldwin
Robert L. Beal
Henry P. Becton Jr.
R. William Burgess Jr.
Richard G. Casey
John J. Doyle Jr.
Jamie C. Fagan
Walter J. Flaherty
Walter J. Gamble, M.D.
Harry A. Hanson III
Lily Rice Hsia
Ogden Hunnewell
Jeffrey M. Hurst
Thomas B. King
George M. Lovejoy Jr.
Anne R. Lovett
Stephen C. Peacher
Rudolph F. Pierce, Esq.
Sandra B. Prescott
Karen Foote Richards
Bud Ris
Kathleen Sherbrooke
Richard A. Soden, Esq.
Patricia R. Squire
Robert W. Uek
Timothy L. Vaill
Louis J. Volpe
Life Trustees
Gerald W. Blakeley Jr.
Charles S. Boit
Jacob F. Brown II
Anne T. Buttrick
Gale R. Guild
Karl J. Hirshman
Robert A. Lawrence
William J. O’Neill Jr.
Edward E. Phillips
Sandra B. Prescott
Honorary Trustee
Sylvia A. Earle, Ph.D.
In Memoriam
We would like to honor the memory of the following Aquarium employees, board members, and supporters who passed away in 2018.
William W. Bain
Samuel W. Bodman
Jo Anne Borek
Frances K. Clark
Amey A. DeFriez
Bobbe F. Jacobson
Kenneth Jamrog
Mary Kakas
Robert J. Kiley
David I. Kosowsky
Muriel Leventhal
Agnes M. Lombard
John Marttila
Grace L. Miraglia
Edith H. Overly
Judith Pinsker
John D. Stelling
Galen L. Stone
Deborah S. Twining
Tide Leadership
Jess Bechhofer
Bill Bereszniewicz
Casey Bereszniewicz
Jackie Bliss
Meg Bor
Julian Casey
Jasmine Gale
Scott MacGrath
JonPaul McBride
Anastasia Pavlovic
Augusta Polhemus
Schmidt St-Fleur
Jessica Young
In Gratitude, Our 2018 Supporters
The work of our scientists, educators, and ocean advocates is only possible because of your support. Thank you for investing in the mission of the New England Aquarium to protect the ocean. Your contributions allow us to create positive change as a global conservation organization. Together, we will create a brighter future for the blue planet.
Thank you to our generous corporate partners, whose support propels our mission forward and enables us to expand the influence of our conservation work.
The New England Aquarium has been bringing the public to the water’s edge and inspiring visitors to protect the blue planet for nearly 50 years.
Support like yours allows us to achieve our mission to expand our education outreach, develop science-based solutions to human impacts on our oceans, and help protect fragile marine ecosystems. Thank you!