New England Aquarium Corporation

Scientific research and advising:in 2024, the new england aquarium ('the aquarium") continued conducting applied ocean science research and technical advising/market-based solutions to help deliver on its mission toward a vision for a vital and vibrant ocean for future generations. Much of this was executed by the aquarium's dedicated ocean science research division, the anderson cabot center for ocean life (anderson cabot center").select 2024 notable highlights of anderson cabot center:the blueswell program, an ocean innovation start-up incubator completed its fourth cohort of ocean tech start-ups, and initiated its fifth cohort, during 2024. As co-founder and partner in this program, the aquarium (via technical consult from anderson cabot center experts) guides these tech start-ups in adopting ocean-friendly practices and metrics, aids in the diligence process, and serves as the fiscal administrator for the program. Upswell, another initiative that the aquarium co-founded, focused on expanding the amount of angel investment in blue technology startups that benefit the environment and create new jobs, hosted a discussion on coastal resilience featuring a panel of experts and published its third whitepaper, marine carbon dioxide removal: investing in science and innovation to build a responsible industry.the aquarium's marine conservation action fund (mcaf) celebrated 25 years of supporting locally-led ocean conservation across the globe. In 2024, mcaf awarded over $240,000 to 27 projects in 17 countries spearheaded by local leaders and their communities. These projects involved collecting critical data on imperiled ocean species, promoting local and indigenous-led marine management, fostering capacity sharing with communities, and sponsoring ocean leaders' participation at international conferences. In 2024, anderson cabot center researchers conducted boat-based research over three months to survey the critically endangered north atlantic right whale in the gulf of st. Lawrence. The team sighted 62 of the estimated population of 372 individuals, collected 23 blow samples, and three fecal samples for analysis. They also removed 19 sets of lost, abandoned, or discarded fishing gear an essential part of preventing future entanglements. During fieldwork in the gulf of st. Lawrence as well as in cape cod bay, anderson cabot center researchers deployed the latest drone technology to study right whales. The drone offers a non-invasive method to gather samples of blow and is used for photogrammetry measurements that allow researchers to better understand the health status of individual whales and the population in order to provide scientifically sound information to government and industry decisionmakers. Anderson cabot center researchers also continued conducting fieldwork needed to inform conservation science and management. In 2024, they tagged more than 250 sharks, tunas, and fishes (18 total species) over 120 days and 4,860 vessel hours in locations ranging from cape cod bay to north carolina to puerto rico. They also flew aerial surveys totaling 600 hours in the new england region to document the abundance and distribution of marine mammals and turtles, identifying over 140 unique right whales. Experts across the aquarium, many of whom are in the anderson cabot center, published 28 total peer-reviewed papers/book chapters in scientific journals/book volumes in 2024, with an additional five peer-reviewed publications in collaboration with fellows and project leaders from the mcaf program.

2024 notable highlights of the sea turtle programs:the new england aquarium has two distinctive programs with sea turtles: we run one of the largest sea turtle rescue operations in the entire united states and we are part of a first-responder network for leatherback sea turtles that get entangled in fishing lines. Both of these programs help maintain sea turtle populations and produce research. The aquarium's sea turtle hospital in quincy, ma treated 518 rescued sea turtles recovered from beaches along cape cod bay during the 2024 cold stun stranding season. In addition to administering to critically endangered kemp's ridley turtles (total of 417), our sea turtle hospital treated threatened loggerhead (62) and green (39) turtles suffering from life-threatening medical conditions, including pneumonia, sepsis and dehydration. The hospital continues to operate under new population management strategies and temperature-controlled conditions as these continue to show results that are as good as, if not better than, pre-pandemic survival rates. These allow for the team to efficiently stabilize turtles before transporting the most stable to secondary facilities where they continue their rehab process or can be released back into warmer waters. We maintained 82 of the most critically ill turtles for full rehabilitation at our hospital. Last year, we reported a pilot study on acoustic implants in several of our rehabilitated cold-stunned loggerheads. In 2023, the paper was accepted and published. Here is the citation: innis, c.j., kennedy, a., kneebone, j. Et al. A pilot study on surgical implantation and efficacy of acoustic transmitters in fifteen loggerhead sea turtles (caretta caretta), 2021/2022. Anim biotelemetry 11, 37 (2023). Https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-023-00349-8. Throughout 2024, the tags were still functioning, and we continued to get regular hits on several acoustic arrays of various turtles. We continued our work on endangered leatherback turtles entangled in fishing gear. We typically evaluate, disentangle, and outfit the turtles with electronic tags that allow researchers to assess survivorship over the 30 days after disentanglement, and track migration patterns.

We continued to work with our partners at boston harbor city cruises ("bhcc") to offer the new england aquarium whale watch, operated by bhcc. This combined effort generated increased whale watch attendance and significantly expanded the reach of our whale conservation programming and our educational programming, overall.total other costs represent the remaining program service expenses per part ix that were not attributable to exhibition, research, or education. Total other revenue represents programatic corporate sponsorships and other miscellaneous income per part viii that were not attributable to exhibition, research, or education.