From Alaska to Washington D.C., America’s Aquariums Are Sounding the Alarm for Our Ocean
Last month, Alaska SeaLife Center President and CEO Dr. Wei Ying Wong and Chief Human Resources Officer Neisha Jones traveled all the way from Alaska to Washington, D.C. to represent the Alaska SeaLife Center’s voice at Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW).
As part of the Aquarium Conservation Partnership (ACP), ASLC leadership joined colleagues from other aquariums across the nation to advocate for stronger ocean protections and continued federal support for conservation programs that matter deeply to our coasts and Alaska.
While in D.C., Dr. Wong met with several representatives and senators, including our own Alaska delegation, to discuss the future of ocean conservation and the impact of recent funding cuts to programs that support it.
Dr. Wong, Neisha, and fellow ACP representatives also appeared on Living Local DMV, a local news program in Washington, D.C., to highlight the importance of Capitol Hill Ocean Week and to discuss the urgent need for greater diversity in conservation leadership. It has never been more important to ensure that all voices are included in conservation conversations. Representation matters, both in the policies we advocate for and in the leaders who shape them.
After their visit to Capitol Hill Ocean Week, Dr. Wong co-authored the op-ed below alongside fellow aquarium leaders from across the country that shares the deep concern for recent actions that threaten the future of ocean conservation. This is a call to protect the ocean, the communities that depend on it, and the programs that sustain both:
All of Us Depend on a Healthy Ocean. We Need Your Help to Protect It.
Published June 26, 2025 in the Baltimore Sun
Written by: Dr. Bridget Coughlin, President and CEO of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, John Racanelli, President and CEO of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and Dr. Wei Ying Wong is President and CEO of Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, AK.
The ocean feeds billions of people on our planet. It produces half of the oxygen on earth, sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and is the engine that drives our climate. It is the source of medicines, jobs, and global transportation. Perhaps most important of all, the ocean is the lifeblood of coastal communities, cultures, and economies from Alaska to the Gulf, from West Coast to East.
Our waterways also inspire us and fuel our ways of life. This summer, people will escape to beaches, bask in the ocean and visit marine wonders at the country’s spectacular aquariums, driven by this appreciation for the aquatic world.
As aquarium leaders around the country, we share that admiration and respect for the ocean. For decades, we’ve introduced tens of millions of people to its unique inhabitants, and watched as visitors of all ages delight in its beauty and mystery. We also contribute ten of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy and support more than 250,000 full-time jobs.
Today, we also share a deep concern for recent actions that threaten the future of aquatic conservation.
A flurry of moves positioned to cut waste and stimulate the economy has jeopardized years of crucial investments in our communities and our shared ocean conservation mission in more ways than you can imagine. This includes cuts to the federal government, clawing back of scientific funding, reductions in staffing and withdrawal of support for important partner agencies.
This weakens our capacity to conduct and publish research, sidelines workforce development programs, and puts already vulnerable species at greater risk. Longstanding public programs, jobs, and federal partnerships are now canceled or in limbo.
The current administration has illegally cancelled grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Aquariums and other cultural institutions across the country are losing paid internships, staff training and other workforce development, as well as support for making our aquariums more sustainable. Diminished IMLS support would jeopardize a wide range of projects, from working with suppliers to improve supply chains, to partnering with local public schools to advance STEM education and career opportunities.
A hold on grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Program threatens many aquariums’ ability to rescue and rehabilitate stranded animals. As the only permanent marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation facility in Alaska, Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) depends on this support to effectively respond to the injured and orphaned marine mammals that show up along the extensive coastline of the nation’s 49th state. Last summer, ASLC rescued an orphaned Pacific walrus calf that was malnourished and dehydrated and staff worked around the clock to nurse it, acting as surrogates to its missing mother.
But the impacts extend far beyond our aquarium walls. By opening our waters to more pollution and extraction, even in protected sanctuaries; by taking away funds that communities depend on to prepare for extreme weather; and by sidestepping safeguards for protected species, like seabirds and whales, actions by the current administration have already set us on a path toward irreversible damage that will harm future generations.
Enough. Our ocean deserves better.
We are compelled today to speak up to shape a future where the ocean flourishes. We need decision-making that is based on accurate science and advances common-sense solutions. We need to protect what matters to all of us–safety from storms, fisheries that will feed our families for generations, and the simple joy so many of us feel from learning about spectacular aquatic places.
We cannot do it alone. We need your voices, too.
Join members of the Aquarium Conservation Partnership across the nation by calling your members of Congress and urging them to: fund National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the workforce that supports them, fund ocean research, education and conservation and to protect our aquatic ecosystems and wildlife by rejecting any efforts to weaken bedrock protections for the ocean and the animals that live in it, and for marine national monuments and national marine sanctuaries.
We must speak out now so that we can continue our vital work of forging a common vision of a sustainable, blue future on Earth.
The Aquarium Conservation Partnership is a coalition working to advance freshwater and ocean conservation policies, committed to sustainable business practices, and inspiring audiences to take action.
