What Does Our Marine Life Look Like? An inside Interview with the Marine Mammal Center

When you're visiting a beautiful destination, let's say somewhere where palm trees sway and a clear-blue ocean is not too far away, and you spot a seal laying on the shore maybe appearing injured. Or perhaps you're snorkeling in those gorgeous waters and all of a sudden a sea turtle sneaks up behind you. What do you do in these scenarios? Don't worry, I will break down how you should respond to wildlife encounters, whether the marine life is behaving healthy or not, here's what you can do to be a helpful tourist!

A California sea lion pup explores a rehabilitation pool pen during treatment at The Marine Mammal Center’s hospital and visitor center in Sausalito, California.Photo by Bill Hunnewell © TheMarine Mammal Center

I recently had the privilege to learn more about The Marine Mammal Center while speaking with Giancarlo Rulli, Associate Director of Public Relations, gaining insight on the current state of our ocean's well-being and simple ways we can help protect these beloved animals. But, first and foremost, let's get into who The Marine Mammal Center is and what their mission is all about.

The Marine Mammal Center is the largest marine mammal hospital in the world, covering 600 miles of California's coast as well as areas on the Big Island of Hawai'i. They began operation in 1975 and now see roughly 30,000 visitors each year and have rescued more than 27,000 marine mammals. Wow! Their main hospital and headquarters is located in Sausalito, California while the other facility: Ke Kai Ola, meaning "the healing sea" lies in Kona, Hawaii. Focusing its efforts on marine care, medical research, and education, The Marine Mammal Center supports ocean conservation missions while providing insight towards the health of these mammals. Not only is the rescue aspect extremely important for the animal itself, but it helps indicate the state of their habitat and otherwise known as the oceans we play in.

Four northern elephant seal pups await a feed of sustainably caught herring inrehabilitation pool pen during treatment at The Marine Mammal Center’s hospitaland visitor center in Sausalito, California.Photo by Bill Hunnewell © The MarineMammal Center

About The Marine Mammal Center

As previously mentioned, the Marine Mammal Center headquarters is located in Sausalito, California and includes a visitors center for guests to check out the facility FOR FREE! You can learn more about the variety of mammals the facility takes care of and how exactly they treat their patients depending on the kind of sickness or injury. Furthermore, you can take a "Behind the Scenes Tour" at the center for only $20 (adults) or a guided tour for $15. These special experiences allow visitors to gain exclusive access into the process of treating the patients, especially the behind the scenes tour, such as seeing the laboratory area and rehabilitation pools for actively caring animals.

Although there is never a bad time to visit the facility, Giancarlo did mention the best time to come would be late March - July for your best chance to see Sea lion pups and Northern Elephant Seal pups. However, even during those "slower" winter months with fewer patients, the Marine Mammal Center stays busy receiving more than 22,000 hotline calls for rescue inquires and caring for 800 - 1,000 marine mammals per year. Those number right there tell us the state of our oceans, yikes!

An image of The Marine Mammal Center’s exhibit hall at their hospitaland visitorcenter located in the Marin Headlands.Photo byDan Friedman© The MarineMammal Center

How You Can Help

During my interview, I asked Giancarlo what some practical ways would be for us, tourists, to help marine mammals either on vacation or at home. Here's some tips and reminders he gave: Firstly, if you are on that vacation swimming at a beautiful beach and you spot an animal that appears to be in distress, do not intervene. Call a local animal hospital or similar profession. Along with that, if you spot marine life in the waters going about its normal behaviors, calmy exit the scene and move to a different spot. Even if the animal approached you, it's best just to leave the area so it doesn't come to a point of disruption. Giancarlo also shared that we should stay at least 150 feet way from marine animals, and a good tip to know if you are that far away is if you don't have to zoom in on your camera to clearly see the animal, you're too close. I know it's hard to leave such beautiful creatures when all you want to do is swim right next to them, however if we really care for them, we should do our best to respect their living spaces!

Although, caring for marine animals goes beyond just staying away from them when you're on vacation. We can all help in our everyday lives by doing simple actions to improve the oceans living quality, for example: utilizing reusable water bottles, plastic straws, and shopping local instead of choosing "next day deliveries" with big corporations as ongoing shipping containers harm marine life environments. Additionally, in support of The Marine Mammal center, you can directly go on their website and give donations if you're willing and able. Giancarlo emphasized a little goes a long way, even just $5 covers 3 lbs. of fish to feed a patient.

VolunteersfromThe Marine Mammal Center release a California sea lion treated fora life threatening entanglement back to the ocean at Chimney Rock in Point ReyesNational Seashore.Photo byConor Jay© The Marine Mammal Center