bay.org
Be the movement
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Sevengill Shark Research Program
Supporting our mission of creating experiences that inspire conservation of San Francisco Bay and its watershed, Aquarium of the Bay is pleased to further its field research of Sevengill Sharks, Notorhychus cepedianus, by working with scientists from the Biotelemetry Lab at the University of California, Davis.
Sevengill sharks, live and reproduce in San Francisco Bay, but little is known about their behavior and ecology. Working with UC-Davis’ Biotelemetry Lab, Aquarium of the Bay staff are implanting two different types of transmitters into sevengills to track and detect the movements of sevengills in the bay. Watch "City of the Shark," a short documentary on our efforts, below.
During the 2008 project season, the Aquarium actively tracked four adult sevengills using ultrasonic transmitter tags implanted in the shark’s body. After tagging the shark, it is released back into the bay. Then, the transmitter sends a continuous record of the shark’s swimming direction, depth, and geographic coordinates. On the Aquarium’s research vessel, the Blue Shark, staff follow the tagged shark continuously for one to three days. The data collected will reveal valuable information about sevengill movements and activities in the San Francisco Bay.
In addition to the ultrasonic transmitters, the Aquarium Team implanted coded signature beacons in twenty sevengills. These beacons have a lifespan of five years, and transmit a signal every 45 to 95 seconds. Monitors positioned throughout the bay detect and record these signals, collecting information that will provide a long-term perspective on the sharks’ life patterns and basic ecology.
Researchers are continuing to analyze Sevengill shark movements and other data gained from this research project.
Angel Shark Research Program
Working in Bodega Bay, California, aquarium staff tag adult angel sharks, Squatina californica, with signature beacons. These beacons periodically transmit signals to underwater receivers placed in the bay. Data from the receivers is collected every three to four weeks and will ultimately be analyzed to learn more about angel sharks and their movements in Bodega Bay. Additionally, while tagging the sharks, staff collect blood and DNA samples which are also banked for analysis. The Aquarium hopes this research will help to increase the body of knowledge of angel shark ecology and biology.
Moon jelly culturing program
Aquarium of the Bay's team of Aquarists have cultured more than 100,000 Moon Jellies, Aurelia aurita, over the past 12 years. This thriving jelly culture has enabled the Aquarium to rely on its in-house collection for exhibits, as well as donate the animals to other nature centers.
While jellies in the wild typically only live to one year old, due to predation by animals including turtles and other jellies, they can survive much longer at aquariums where they are protected and closely monitored.
Sustainable Seafood program
As a founding member of the San Francisco Seafood Watch Alliance, Aquarium of the Bay is committed to educating our guests about sustainable seafood and the impact of personal choice. Throughout the year, we work with partners at Monterey Bay Aquarium; California Academy of Sciences, the San Francisco Zoo, and The Marine Mammal Center to promote and enhance the sustainable seafood movement in the Bay area, while providing regional support for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® program.
Coast and Ocean
The Coast and Ocean Program promotes and implements strategies to protect the lower San Francisco Bay ecosystems, coastal and near-shore ocean waters. Our project goal is to further advance support for protection of ocean and coastal resources impacting the San Francisco Bay ecosystem. This program will focus on a collaborative approach to supporting Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), with an emphasis on education and outreach to raise the MPA awareness in the public mind. To educate and inspire key demographics about the need for ocean and coastal protection, TBI is using a variety of communication forums and tools including exhibits, lectures, films, and advocacy through pledge campaigns. We aim to increase awareness of important ocean and coastal protection issues and generate unified positions with our partners regarding necessary actions to protect and manage ocean and coastal resources that impact the San Francisco Bay Ecosystem. We are developing initiatives regarding these issues to submit to local, state, federal, and sometimes-international decision makers.
Bay Restoration
The Bay Institute (TBI) is working to restore 100,000 acres of historic wetlands, promote the use of natural-marsh flood barriers to protect urban shorelines, and integrate pollution-control networks into marsh restoration. To accomplish this goal, TBI is promoting the San Francisco Bay Restoration Act in Congress in order to establish an EPA "Geographic Program” for San Francisco Bay that will facilitate greater federal funding and resource allocation to restoration of the Bay. TBI is also pursuing regional adoption of an integrated, green infrastructure approach to shoreline management incorporating the "hybrid levee” by promoting enhanced collaboration among managers of flood, sanitation, and habitat restoration agencies. The green infrastructure model holds the promise for protecting the Bay’s wetland ecosystem across a range of possible climate change scenarios by anticipating and adapting to future conditions. Regional implementation of the green infrastructure model has the potential to safeguard developed shorelines – including people and wildlife – by creating a more resilient Bay shoreline that can adapt more effectively to sea level rise.
Objectives:
•Facilitate interagency collaboration to explore and evaluate opportunities to apply a new green infrastructure shoreline management model on a regional scale.
•Investigate the suitability of typical shoreline configurations across the region for conversion to a new green infrastructure paradigm.
•Evaluate the costs and benefits to sanitation and flood management agencies of integrating a green infrastructure model into their operations.
Rivers and Delta
The Bay Institute’s Rivers & Delta program employs scientific and policy expertise to promote reforms in the way California manages its water resources and protects the ecological values of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and its watershed.
Building on The Bay Institute's original, core mission of using research and advocacy to secure increased freshwater flows to the Bay, the Rivers & Delta program staff work to protect the estuary's endangered aquatic species, restore a healthy estuarine ecosystem, reconnect the estuary to its watershed, stop agricultural water pollution, and measure how the ecosystem is responding to human activities.
Bay Model Alliance
In 2013, the Bay Model Visitor Center partnered with Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco to form the Bay Model Alliance. The Bay Model Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a goal to raise awareness and create greater accessibility to the San Francisco Bay ecosystem.
Through this Alliance, Aquarium of the Bay supports the Visitor Center by offering enhanced educational programming and special events such as lectures, films, and seminars, creating more opportunities for visitors to learn about the San Francisco Bay including its tides, watershed, and freshwater flows.
The Bay Model Visitor Center is an education center administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and features a working hydraulic model of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta system. We are looking forward to expanding our programming at the Center in 2014.
Sea Lion Center
Programs at our new Sea Lion Center will provide learning opportunities for K-12 students. These classroom programs focus both on the amazing wildlife visible from the facility and on the interconnectedness of humans with the world around them. All classes are age appropriate and meet specific Next Generation (NGSS) and California State Science Standards for the targeted grade level.
The NGSS are a complete departure from existing guidelines and will require teachers to create entirely new lesson plans. AOTB is working to increase educator capacity to competently deliver these new integrated science standards to K-12 students, both in the classroom and through the education programs delivered at the Aquarium. As a regional leader in informal science education, Aquarium of the Bay is well poised to serve as a guide for educators during this transition period, and has received endorsement in this role from San Francisco Unified School District.
Objectives:
•Enhance learning resources online to deepen students’ overall learning experience;
•Incorporate stronger watershed messaging and education components; and
•Provide free-of-cost, hands-on science and nature programs to K-12 students in the nine-county Bay Area.
Mobile Programs & Discover the Bay Hybrid Ferry Program
Our mobile programs bring the Aquarium to students in three ways:
•The Bay Mobile – a classroom on wheels that focuses on climate change science, and brings students face to face with animals impacted by ocean acidification, rising seas, increased fires, and other climate change-driven threats.
•Trout in the Classroom – a program that brings live trout to students, who will raise the trout and release them to their local creeks.
•Discover the Bay Hybrid Ferry – gets 5th through 8th grade students out on the water aboard an energy efficient boat to learn about their local watershed, climate change, and ocean science.
Led by the Aquarium’s team of expert naturalists, the hybrid ferry program provides an immersive learning experience from onboard the nation’s first hybrid ferry. Through this 5-hour, hands-on program, students apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills while out on the Bay. On the water, students tow for plankton and view them with a video microscope; compare water samples collected from the Bay for salinity, density, and temperature; learn about the hydro-geography of the Bay’s watershed; investigate the impact of climate change on the Bay and the many ways students can lessen their carbon footprint; and observe wildlife – all while being out on the Bay in an energy efficient boat. After a morning of microscopes, hydrometers, porpoises, and zooplankton, students take a guided tour of Aquarium of the Bay for an up-close experience with the life that lives beneath the surface of the Bay. Our hybrid ferry field trips provide academically rigorous content and effective, engaging support for diverse learning styles – including ESL and special needs students.
Exploration Tours
Exploration Tours integrate a guided tour of the Aquarium exhibits with hands-on activities and scientific practices.
Kindergarten:
Bay Explorers: Using the five senses, explore our very own San Francisco Bay and the amazing animals that live in it.
Early Elementary (1st – 3rd grade):
Have to Have a Habitat: Students explore the wide variety of animals that live in the San Francisco Bay and how they are each specially adapted to their particular habitat.
Shark Sleuths: What types of sharks live right here in San Francisco Bay, and what role do they play in the ecosystem? Answer these questions and more!
Upper Elementary (3rd – 5th grade):
Eco-Explorers: Discover the extraordinary San Francisco Bay-Delta and what we can do to take care of this important ecosystem.
Top of the Food Chain: What does it take to make it to the top of the food chain? Discover the answer to this question and more as we explore how two very different animals—sharks and river otters—are top predators in their ecosystems.
Middle School (6th – 8th grade):
Saving the Bay: The San Francisco Bay is one of the most amazing ecosystems on the planet and it is also one of the most threatened. Explore the complex ecological issues affecting the San Francisco Bay and its watershed.
High School (9th- 12th grade):
Behind the Scenes: Have you ever wondered what it takes to run an aquarium? While going behind the scenes, learn what our aquarists do every day to take care of our animals.
Where we work
Awards
Environmental and Economic Leadership Award 2001
California Governor's award
Helen Crocker Russell Award 1995
San Francisco Foundation Award
Certification 2013
San Francisco Green Business
Affiliations & memberships
Association of Fundraising Professionals - Member 2014
Smithsonian Affiliate 2017
San Francisco Green Business (Aquarium of the Bay) 2005
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
We pursue our mission with creativity and passion on behalf of the people and wildlife living from the depths of the Bay to the tops of California's majestic Sierra Nevada mountains—and every place in-between.
Our scientists and policy experts use research, advocacy, and education to win stronger environmental protections, support on-the-ground habitat restoration, and monitor the health of the ecosystem. Our educators inspire more than half a million people – students, teachers, tourists, and families – each year.
Together, we are measurably improving the health of the Bay and empowering those who live, work, and visit the Bay Area to protect it for future generations. Each year we work to:
• Restore functional wetland habitats around the Bay, health to our coastal
ecosystems, and flowing fresh water to dehydrated rivers
• Advance effective implementation of policies to protect ocean resources
linked to the Bay
• Educate students—and guests from all over the world—about critical conservation subjects like climate change and ocean pollution
• Empower the public to voice their support for conservation initiatives in their own communities
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Bay.org inspires conservation through collective action, by bringing science education to students through Aquarium of the Bay, SeaLion Center, and the EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park, and science-based recommendations to policy makers through The Bay Institute.
Aquarium of the Bay showcases the San Francisco Bay-Delta watershed, providing unforgettable encounters for approximately 600,000 guests annually. Our public programs and exhibits provide an inspiring window to San Francisco Bay's diverse but imperiled ecosystems and wildlife.
We offer educational programs to Bay Area students of all ages, preparing the next generation of environmental stewards. Our programs offer the latest in science education to student groups—free of charge—and encourage community action to address environmental issues like sea level rise, plastics in the ocean, and habitat loss.
Through The Bay Institute, we work with natural resource agencies and policy makers to restore the San Francisco Bay Delta ecosystem, which includes land and water critical to nearly half the state of California—and is the largest estuary on the west coast of North America. Our scientists make sure that the policies governing our waters are effective protection for the species that make the Bay Area their home.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Bay.org inspires conservation, education, and policy making through our six divisions—The Bay Institute, Aquarium of the Bay, Studio Aqua, Sea Lion Center, Bay Academy, and the Bay Model Alliance (in partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers). We inspire positive change through research and advocacy, hands-on learning experiences, and engaging interactions with naturalists. With over 60 full-time employees and 83 volunteers who contribute over 9,700 hours every year, our dedicated team delivers the highest level of marine science, conservation solutions, public policy recommendations, and conservation-focused education and outreach.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We continually work to reach new audiences with our mission, and our programs are expanding every day.
At Aquarium of the Bay, our Education and Conservation Department offers programs and classes onsite to thousands of students and teachers annually—completely free of charge. Programming is aligned with California state educational standards, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate and Ocean Literacy standards, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Conservation standards—and the Next Generation Science Standards. We also provide supplemental materials to help Bay Area teachers meet these new science criteria in their own classrooms.
In 2014, we launched The BayMobile program to bring live animals and climate change-focused education into classrooms around the Bay Area.
Our popular science cruises for elementary students aboard the Hornblower Hybrid vessel bring students directly onto the Bay (many for the first time) to learn about ocean science.
We are founding partners of the San Francisco Seafood Watch Alliance, a regional model of institutions providing support for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program, including training and expertise on sustainable seafood for the general public and local businesses. One of our main roles in this work is to help Bay Area restaurants commit to making responsible choices in the seafood they serve.
Our Sea Lion Center offers exhibit and program space that inspires and educates both local students and visitors from all over the world—as they observe the charismatic California sea lions on PIER 39. Our programming explains how to reduce guests' plastic footprint to cut down on marine debris, which endangers marine wildlife.
The Bay Institute increases public understanding of, and support for, protection of our water resources in the Bay watershed—by promoting community action that makes a difference.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
bay.org
Board of directorsas of 06/15/2021
Mr. Ben Bleiman
Tonic Nightlife Group
Term: 2016 -
Dean Morehous
Troutman Sanders LLP
Harrisson C Dunning
UC Davis School of Law
Kay Carney
Member of the SF Chapter of the Links, Inc
Rosalind Jackson
Vote Solar
Steven N Machtinger
Code Advisors LLC
Bethany Patten
Pacific Union International
Angelique Tompkins
Entrepreneur, Community Activist
Ed Ueber
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
JJ Hanley
Filigreen
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No