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BOSFAL12

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM (NEREID); S. CHENG (SEAL); LARRY BUSACCA/GETTY IMAGES (ELLIS) SPIRIT OF GENEROSITY Aquarium researchers gather data on North Atlantic right whales. continued from page 66 An innovative new first-level exhibit area, the Blue Planet Action Center, will detail how the aquarium is involved with community global projects. For and instance, 10 aquarium staffers work solely in the sustainable seafood department, while other researchers study such topics as Brazil's coral reefs. One of these international projects began nearly 11 years ago when the Bay of Fundy research team discovered something startling while collecting right whale fecal samples in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. The samples reveal a great deal about the whales, including age, gender, and the animal's stress levels. In the days after September 11, 2001, shipping into the Bay of Fundy was halted, and samples collected from the whales showed a dramatic decrease in their stress level. In response to these accidental findings, the Canadian government implemented new shipping lanes in 2003 that resulted in a 90 percent reduction in the risk of a vessel colliding with a whale. Concord, MA 41 Main Street • 978.369.3223 Hingham, MA 53 South Street • 781.749.4792 Lake Forest, IL 221 E. Westminster Avenue • 847.234.6416 Nantucket, MA 5 South Beach Street • 508.680.1626 New Canaan, CT 137 Elm Street • 203.966.5488 Newport, MA 115 Bellevue Avenue • 401.847.5700 South End, MA 44 Plympton Street • 617.482.7272 Wellesley, MA 200 Linden Street • 781.235.1321 Winnetka, IL 563 Lincoln Avenue • 847.441.2813 www.saracampbell.com Other research concerns the aquarium's work in the Pacific, including a team that helped create the world's largest protected area, a space the size of Washington State, in the Phoenix Islands. With the leadership of the aquarium, a team of researchers and experts, including long-time diver and Board of Overseers member Alan Dynner, helped established the islands as a UNESCO World Heritage site. "The aquarium is unique in what it does," says Dynner. "It's the only US institution of its kind that has an active conservation program around the world. Most aquariums concentrate on the sea around them, but the New England Aquarium has made it its mission to work worldwide." The Phoenix Islands are known for some of the world's most beautiful and isolated coral reefs. The aquarium helped create the park by providing biological, legal, and financial expertise to the government of Kiribati (the place where Amelia Earhart most likely crashed her tiny airplane and died). There were two expeditions from New England to the islands this summer, one looking for more evidence of the pilot's disappearance and another from the aquarium for biological research. With these latest fundraising efforts, more people will get a glimpse beyond the aquarium's tank and into their role as cutting edge researchers. BC An Atlantic harbor seal at New England Aquarium.

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