Celebrating the Center's Pop-Up at PIER 39
At The Marine Mammal Center’s PIER 39 pop-up exhibit, open from June through October 2023, our aim was to educate a broad and diverse audience about ocean conservation and inspire action that positively impacts ocean health.
Although we are no longer at PIER 39, we invite you to visit us in Sausalito at the world’s largest marine mammal hospital. Join a tour to hear inspiring stories of marine mammal survival, watch as volunteers prepare meals in the Fish Kitchen, peek into our laboratory to learn more about our scientific research, and explore interactive exhibits that give you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to rescue hundreds of marine mammals every year. Plus, discover how you can take action to protect marine mammals and our ocean.
If you’d like to learn more about our PIER 39 pop-up, please keep reading:
In addition to this pop-up educational exhibit and retail space, we had docents at K-Dock, the sea lion viewing area, for most of 2023. Our docents engaged with the public about the sea lions at PIER 39, other marine mammals and ocean health.
The Center’s approach at PIER 39 was a terrific success:
- More than 74,000 people engaged with our staff and volunteers
- 480 behavior change pledges were made by visitors
- 26 volunteers were specially trained and helped us expand our work at PIER 39
- 15 sick and injured marine mammals were reported to the Center’s Response team, increasing the chances those animals would receive help
- 38 entangled marine mammals were observed at the pier by our staff, which helped visitors learn more about ocean health threats and how they can take action
- Four Special Rescue Operations were launched at K-Dock, resulting in three successful sea lion rescues
- Our educational signage along the K-Dock railing engaged visitors with our work, including why ocean health is crucial to the health of marine mammals, our ocean and humans alike
What we learned from our presence at PIER 39 will inform our outreach approaches going forward.
Thank you to all our supporters, volunteers and staff who made this project a success. We couldn’t have done it without you.
The pop-up exhibit closed in October 2023 in preparation for a major renovation project to build a permanent educational exhibit and retail space, the Sea Lion Spot, that was planned to open summer 2024.
We made the difficult decision to end our presence at PIER 39 due to economic realities impacting the Center, including project costs that were higher than anticipated as well as major unexpected and upcoming organizational expenses for our field locations in Moss Landing and Morro Bay. Our last day at PIER 39 was January 12, 2024.
Our goals for the PIER 39 project, including engaging visitors across a wider and more diverse audience on the importance of ocean conservation, remain essential to our organization’s values and we will continue to pursue them.