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| "The John G. Shedd Aquarium is the first and only institution of its kind to have its own railroad car for the collection and transportation of fishes." Report of the director, 1930 Averaging 20,000 miles a collecting season, the custom-fitted Nautilus railroad car transported fishes collected from the Atlantic, Pacific and Caribbean to Shedd Aquarium, located at the heart of the country's railroad lines, for nearly 30 years. From 1959 to 1972, a higher-speed stainless steel Nautilus II was used, while today, fishes are transported by air in oxygen-filled plastic bags packed in Styrofoam boxes. The R/V Coral Reef, the Aquarium's 75-foot collecting boat purchased in 1971, carried a 10-person scuba-diving crew all over the Caribbean until 1982. A new collecting vessel, the R/V Coral Reef II, made its maiden voyage in 1984 and continues to serve Shedd's collecting and research efforts today. When the Aquarium first opened, collecting crews relied on local fishers for many open-ocean and exotic saltwater fishes. Aquarium staff spent most of their time collecting with nets in tide pools. Commercial dealers and collectors were scarce. Today, all of the Aquarium's aquarists are scuba divers who log many hours underwater. The freshwater exhibits have been stocked over the years with local fishes from seining and collecting trips to nearby lakes and streams. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the conservation departments of nearby states have been major contributors of native fishes since the Aquarium opened. These sources were vital to the Aquarium's ability to remain open during World War II when a shortage of saltwater fishes closed one gallery. 
Acquiring the marine mammals for the Oceanarium was the most ambitious, publicized, and rewarding collecting effort in the Aquarium's history.Of the many marine mammals native to the Pacific Northwest, the Aquarium chose to display beluga whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, sea otters and harbor seals because these species do well in aquarium settings and help convey important conservation stories. None of the species is endangered. After complying with stringent federal regulations for collecting and exhibiting marine mammals, as set forth in the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Aquarium received permits from the National Marine Fisheries Service to acquire Pacific white-sided dolphins and beluga whales. An additional permit was required from Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans to collect belugas in Canada. Pacific white-sided dolphins were collected by Shedd animal-care specialists off Monterey Bay during November and December 1988. Long Marine Laboratory, part of the University of California's Santa Cruz campus, provided housing for the dolphins. In August 1989, the Aquarium's collecting team traveled to Manitoba, Canada, and collected juvenile beluga whales. The whales were flown to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, which had both the facilities and the expertise to care for the two young whales. The Aquarium sent its own animal-care specialists to care for the dolphins and whales at the temporary quarters. Both the cetaceans and trainers moved to Chicago, via cargo jet, in March 1991. Early in 1989, the Aquarium was mapping out a sea otter collecting trip in Alaska when the tanker Exxon Valdez grounded in Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil in prime sea otter habitat. Following its participation in otter rescue efforts in Alaska, the Aquarium was contacted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to adopt orphaned sea otter pups that could not be reintroduced to the wild. With the opening of the Oceanarium, Shedd became the only inland aquarium to exhibit sea otters. The Aquarium demonstrated such skill in caring for these pups that a year later Fish and Wildlife sent another motherless pup to raise and include in the sea otter exhibit. |
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