The vision of a group of marine scientists from the nearby Hopkins Marine Station, Monterey Bay Aquarium opened in 1984, thanks to a 55 million dollar gift from David Packard, one of the founders of the Hewlett Packard Company, and his wife Lucile. The aquarium rests in the backyard of Monterey Bay, one of the world’s richest marine environments and the largest protected marine area in America.

The aquarium’s permanent exhibits and galleries highlight the colorful and complex array of marine life found on California’s central coast, from wetlands to the open ocean and deep sea. The Kelp Forest exhibit is the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s signature exhibit. A huge aquamarine tank, more than 30 feet deep, swirls with fish and sways with the golden stalks of the world’s grandest seaweed to recreate the underwater spectacle beneath Monterey Bay.

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s mission is to inspire conservation of the oceans. WINDOW TO THE SEA spends time with Monterey Bay Aquarium’s sea otter aquarists as they work with one of the most regions most threatened species.