Turning the Tide a Global Aquarium Strategy for Conservation and Sustainability
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WAZA TURNING THE TIDE A Global Aquarium Strategy for Conservation and Sustainability Executive Office This publication was produced with financial support from the North of England Zoological Society i TURNING THE TIDE A Global Aquarium Strategy for Conservation and Sustainability Implementation of the World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Strategy by the WAZA Aquarium Community and Partners Compiled and edited by M. Penning, G. McG. Reid, H. Koldewey, G. Dick, B. Andrews, K. Arai, P. Garratt, S. Gendron, J. Lange, K. Tanner, S. Tonge, P. Van den Sande, D. Warmolts and C. Gibson ii TURNING THE TIDE A Global Aquarium Strategy for Conservation and Sustainability Citation Penning, M., Reid, G. McG., Koldewey, H., Dick, G., Andrews, B., Arai, K., Garratt, P., Gendron, S., Lange, J., Tanner, K., Tonge, S., Van den Sande, P., Warmolts, D. and Gibson, C. (Eds) 2009. Turning the Tide: A Global Aquarium Strategy for Conservation and Sustainability. World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Bern, Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-033-02140-2 © WAZA 2009 WAZA Executive Office Design Cover Lindenrain 3 www.naturebureau.co.uk Open ocean exhibit at Monterey 3012 Bern Bay Aquarium, USA, with Switzerland Print great white shark. Back cover: www.waza.org Information Press, Oxford, UK Hairy hermit crab, Anomura sp. © Dennis King, South Africa. High School Lake Ecology Class, Shedd Aquarium, USA. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is a global organisation which harmonises the principles, policies, practices and strategy of over 1300 leading zoos and aquariums. WAZA is the unifying representative of the global zoo and aquarium community and works in partnership with IUCN, national governments and non-government organisations to ensure high standards of animal welfare and to achieve conservation in zoos and aquariums (ex situ) and in nature (in situ). (www.waza.org) iii Contents Foreword .....................................................................................................................................v International Endorsement ....................................................................................................... vii Executive Summary .....................................................................................................................x Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 The Strategy .............................................................................................................................. 11 1. Integrating Conservation ..................................................................................................... 12 2. Conservation of Wild Populations ........................................................................................ 14 3. Science and Research ..........................................................................................................20 4. Population Management ..................................................................................................... 24 5. Education and Training ........................................................................................................29 6. Communication, Marketing and Public Relations................................................................. 34 7. Partnerships and Politics ......................................................................................................36 8. Sustainability ......................................................................................................................40 9. Ethics and Animal Welfare ................................................................................................... 43 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................50 References ................................................................................................................................. 51 Appendices I Glossary............................................................................................................................56 II Institutions, organisations and programmes associated with aquariums and aquatic conservation.........................................................................................................62 III Public aquariums: the global scale of the industry .............................................................64 IV Public aquariums: strengths and challenges in support of conservation ............................ 67 V Public aquariums: global role in education ........................................................................69 VI Public aquariums: international conventions, codes and guidelines .................................. 70 VII Public aquariums: examples of in situ and ex situ conservation and education projects ......71 VIII Public aquariums: global list of breeding programmes ...................................................... 75 IX Public aquariums: selected serial publications on aquatic and wetlands research and associated environmental aspects .................................................................................... 77 v Foreword “There has long been a belief that the sea, at least, was inviolate, beyond man’s ability to change and to despoil. But this belief, unfortunately, has proved to be naïve” Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us 1951 The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is a global organisation which acts to harmonise the principles, practices, policies and strategy of over 1300 zoos and aquariums. Its strap-line is ‘United for Conservation’. WAZA evolved from the International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens (IUDZG), founded in 1935 in Basle, Switzerland but which ceased to exist during World War II. A reconstituted IUDZG was founded in Rotterdam in 1946 eventually to become the World Zoo Organisation (WZO). In 2000, the WZO was re-named and re-branded as ‘WAZA’ to reflect a more modern and inclusive organisation, where public aquariums are fully represented and where cooperative action is greatly valued and promoted. Today, WAZA is the unifying representative and ‘voice’ for the global zoo and aquarium community. From its base in Switzerland, it works in partnership with IUCN, national governments and non-government organisations to ensure high standards of animal welfare and to achieve conservation and sustainability both in zoos and aquariums (ex situ) and in nature (in situ). WAZA’s vision is to be a trusted and leading partner in the conservation of biodiversity, with a particular focus on species cared for by zoos and aquariums. Its mission is to provide leadership and support for zoos, aquariums and partner organisations of the world in animal care and welfare, conservation of biodiversity, environmental education and global sustainability. In the pursuit of the vision and towards the fulfilment of the mission it was realised, almost 20 years ago, that a strategic conservation ‘blueprint’ was required to guide the organisation and its members. From this, in 1993, the World Zoo Conservation Strategy was published by the WZO-IUDZG in partnership with the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG). This document defined for the first time the overall responsibilities and opportunities that the international zoo and aquarium community needed to act on in order to be fully engaged in the collective global conservation movement. In 2002, several senior representatives of the world zoo and aquarium community met to discuss a proposed new strategy document: Dr Bert de Boer (Chairman of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, EAZA, and principal author and editor of the original 1993 strategy); Dr Ulysses Seal (then Chairman of the CBSG); Dr William Conway (then Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, USA) and Professor Günther Nogge, (then Director of the Cologne Zoo, Germany and a past President of the WZO). The new strategy would build on the success of the original, begin to raise the profile of aquariums and also demonstrate more ways in which zoos and aquariums could successfully support conservation initiatives. From these initial excellent endeavours, a new strategy was developed under the aegis of a Steering Committee, led by Dr Jonathan Gipps (Director of Bristol Zoological Gardens, UK, and Chair of the WAZA Conservation and Sustainability Committee). The new and current World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Strategy (WZACS) was launched on the 2 May, 2005 in Melbourne, Australia. Headed ‘Building a Future for Wildlife’, it is the result of the collective efforts of over 350 zoo and aquarium professionals and many other conservation and sustainability partners worldwide. The strategy is aimed at all zoos and aquariums, associations and partner organisations, however large or small, however rich or poor, and not just those who are members of WAZA. The strategy provides a shared philosophy and high-level aspiration for zoos and aquariums across the globe. It also defines the standards, policies and practices that are necessary to achieve their goals in conservation. This landmark document can be downloaded free-of-charge from the WAZA website at www.waza.org in English, German, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech and Chinese. vi TURNING THE TIDE A Global Aquarium Strategy for Conservation and Sustainability Many internationally-respected individuals