Bluesday Tip #5: Learn from Aquariums, but there's a Catch

Today is Bluesday!

Bluesday is the first Tuesday of the month. Each Bluesday, I share a tip for How To Be Blue. Being blue is about caring for the ocean -- what we put into it, and what we take out of it.

This month's Bluesday tip: Learn from Aquariums, but there’s a catch.

Summer is upon us in the United States. We are wading through the warm (often very hot) months of June, July, and August, spending more time outside than inside, and making frequent trips to the nearest body of water -- pool, lake, river, ocean – for an escape from the heat.

With kids out of school and vacations on the horizon, now is the time not only to enjoy the ocean, but to appreciate it. One of the best ways to appreciate and care for the ocean is to learn about it and the variety of fascinating creatures that call it home.

There are many sources for ocean education, the most obvious being a trip to the beach to explore the environment first hand. To hear the heartbeat of ocean waves and to find a coiled shell in the sand usually inspires love for the ocean; however, the acts alone of standing on the beach, collecting shells, or swimming in the ocean do not guarantee newfound knowledge. Just as one needs labels to learn about paintings in a museum or a map to find historic landmarks in a city, one needs a guide of some sort to fully appreciate and learn about the ocean environment and marine creatures.

For example, on almost every trip I make to the South Carolina coast I come across a bunch of perplexed tourists standing over a beached Cannonball Jellyfish (scientific name: Stomolophus meleagris). They prod at it with dried marsh reeds, afraid to touch it because it’s a jellyfish, and jellyfish sting. Right?

Well, most of the time, yes, jellyfish sting. But the cannonball jellyfish sting is so weak that humans rarely feel a thing – believe me, I’ve picked up more than my fair share of cannonball jellies to demonstrate their harmless nature to newbie beachgoers (it is important to note that cannonball jelly toxin does irritate human eyes – so don’t touch your eyes after touching this jellyfish). In Japan, cannonball jellyfish are considered a delicacy.

Funny fact: A school of jellyfish is called a smack.

And all of this discussion about jellyfish brings me back to my main point – learn about the ocean and its creatures. You just did! You now know more about cannonball jellyfish than most people on the beach this summer.

And I know just where to learn even more…

Aquariums!

Before (or during) your trip to the beach this summer, visit an aquarium for a full ocean education. Like museum labels and city maps, aquariums are excellent sources of information. Aquariums allow a rare, up-close view of live marine creatures – those you may see on the beach and many you have never seen (and may never see) in the wild. Show your children the wonders of the underwater world and inspire their lifelong love of the ocean.

But, there’s a catch.

While established large-scale city and state aquariums are excellent sources for learning about the ocean world, individual aquariums kept in offices, restaurants, public places, and private homes often do more harm than good. Tropical fish sold for small aquariums are usually caught in the wild using unsustainable and destructive methods.

To avoid the catch of an aquarium that harms the ocean, make sure to follow these general rules (and suggest to owners of individual aquariums at local businesses that they do the same):

Don’t buy live saltwater fish caught in the wild for your aquarium. The fishing methods used for the live fish trade include such things as cyaniding and dynamiting, which destroy the marine environment. Every year in the U.S. alone, hundreds of thousands of young and rare tropical reef fish die in small aquariums.

Buy only Marine Aquarium Council (www.aquariumcouncil.org) certified fish to be sure that your fish are sustainably caught or reared in captivity. Encourage local businesses to buy MAC certified fish for their aquariums.

Never return aquarium fish to the ocean or any body of water because doing so could introduce non-native species that may disrupt the delicate balance of marine ecosystems.

To be blue this month, learn more about the ocean and its creatures by visiting beaches and aquariums, but beware of the aquarium catch.

The more we learn about the ocean, the more we will care about protecting it. We will discover that, like the cannonball jellyfish, the ocean is full of contradictions and exceptions to common sense rules…

When caught in a riptide, don’t try to swim toward the shore (and directly against the pull of the tide), but rather swim parallel to the shore and eventually out of the tide.

The best way to care for the ocean is to learn about it and teach others. Some knowledge may help us identify marine creatures on the beach (cannonball jellyfish), while some knowledge may save a life (surviving a riptide).

May you turn a deeper shade of blue with each passing month!