"We Conserve What We Understand"
The African environmentalist Baba Dioum said, “In the end, we will only conserve what we love. We will only love what we understand. We will only understand what we are taught.” The Georgia Aquarium has taught, promoted understanding, and provided a personal connection with wildlife to more than 5,000,000 visitors, including more than 100,000 school children and teachers. A recent survey funded by the National Science Foundation found that visits to aquaria and zoos result in increased support for conservation and stewardship of animals in the wild.
Without the exposure that aquaria, zoos, and museums can offer, sharks and other wild animals may be doomed. The Georgia Aquarium is already providing this exposure, and as it matures we anticipate that its research, conservation, and education activities will grow as well. The aquarium plays an important role in bringing people into contact with marine organisms. We should all help strengthen these efforts instead of focusing solely on two tragic deaths while ignoring millions of other deaths in a polluted, over-harvested ocean that we are all doing too little to preserve because of our inadequate understanding, exposure, and personal connection with its animals.
Reputable aquaria and zoos offer most Americans a rare opportunity to experience, understand, and love wildlife. The whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium allow people to connect with these mysterious gentle giants, rather than limiting that opportunity to a select few scientists or travelers. Neither Atlantans nor Americans in general knew about whale sharks before the aquarium opened. If we will only conserve what we love and understand, then whale shark conservation is being advanced.
Additionally, the notion that sharks will prosper if they are left in peace in the wild instead of being exhibited is a fallacy. Between 1940 and today, the world’s human population increased from about two billion to seven billion. At this density, we leave few, if any, wild populations in peace. Populations of major sharks along the eastern coast of the U.S. have declined by 93 to 99 percent since 1972. Recent estimates are that up to 73,000,000 sharks are killed annually for their fins alone, which are highly prized foods in Asia. To conserve and protect whale sharks and other wild species, we need to understand them. Ignoring them in the wild while they decline by 90 percent is neither leaving them in peace nor fulfilling our obligations as wise stewards of nature.
The Georgia Aquarium purchased whale sharks that were bound for Taiwanese dinner tables. These purchases coincided with a decrease and ultimate ban of fishing for whale sharks in Taiwan. As Taiwan recognized the value of the sharks for eco-tourism and conservation, they decreased the allowable catch from 60 in 2006, to 30 in 2007, to zero in 2008 and beyond. Thus, the aquarium’s purchases and display of living whale sharks coincided with a shift from consumption to conservation of whale sharks in Taiwan. Such shifts in values are unlikely to occur unless people know of and care about wildlife - a shift that is aided by personal experiences in aquaria and zoos.
Understanding and conserving wildlife involves not focusing solely on two untimely deaths, while ignoring millions of others in a polluted, over-harvested ocean. If we humans continue poor stewardship of the world’s oceans because of our ignorance and misplaced values, we will diminish the richness of our lives and the options for our children. It is only with increased exposure and understanding that the fate of the oceans, and the animals living in them, will improve.
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