2024 marked a watershed year for MBARI as we formally took ownership of our new flagship, the R/V David Packard, opened a state-of-the-art shoreside laboratory, and looked forward to welcoming the institute’s next President/CEO, Antje Boetius. These events took place against the backdrop of welcoming our new Director of Marine Operations, Kaya Johnson, and celebrating notable anniversaries for our most important partners, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Packard Foundation. In all of my years at MBARI, I cannot recall a time of such coalescence, significance, and reflection as MBARI looks toward the future.
The R/V David Packard is central to MBARI’s mission of exploring and understanding our changing ocean. Over the past year, work to complete the ship's construction has been a focal point of activity, capping a nearly 20-year effort that encompassed the vessel’s design, launch, and commissioning. The David Packard is larger and technologically far more advanced than its predecessor, the Western Flyer. Over the years, staff from all ranks of science, engineering, and marine operations have spent countless hours with our marine architect, Glosten, to refine a design for a ship that is uniquely suited to MBARI’s work while accommodating the nuances of our home port in Moss Landing, California. The ship’s builder, Freire, located in Vigo, Spain, began construction in the fall of 2021, with an expected completion in the spring of 2023. The COVID pandemic, war in Ukraine, supply chain challenges, and all that came thereafter slowed the completion of the ship. Despite the many logistical and technical setbacks, we formally took ownership of the vessel in May and expect its arrival in Moss Landing this April. Bringing the ship to life has taken dogged determination, teamwork, and a commitment to excellence—qualities befitting of its namesake. The addition of the David Packard to our fleet marks a significant generational event for MBARI that will open the door to a new era of discovery.
Many shoreside improvements have been taking place in parallel with construction of the new ship. This past year marked a major milestone in the development of MBARI’s main campus with the completion of the Instrumentation Integration and Testing Facility, a robotics technology laboratory. This two-story, roughly 32,000-square-foot facility is located directly across the street from MBARI’s dock. It provides engineers and scientists the space needed to develop and prepare systems for deployment. In addition to science and engineering laboratories, the facility offers spectacular interactive areas with stunning views of Monterey Bay. Configurable meeting space provides new opportunities for hosting workshops and seminars, and training the next generation of ocean explorers. Finally, the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS) will be headquartered there—a member of a nationwide network of organizations that collect, integrate, and share a wide array of ocean information for the public’s benefit. Like the new ship, the new building opens a door to imagining, designing, and creating the next generation of ocean sensors, samplers, and platforms that will be integral to implementing MBARI’s Strategic Roadmap.
After a nearly two-year search, MBARI’s Board of Directors announced that Antje Boetius will serve as the institute’s next president and CEO. Antje hails from the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, where she has served as the Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for the past seven years. Antje is world-renowned for her work expanding scientific and technical capabilities for accessing the global ocean and for conducting experiments and observations in remote and extreme polar regions at a time of rapid climate change. Her experience, dedication to excellence, and collaborative spirit are ideally matched with MBARI’s mission and purpose. She arrives at a pivotal time when our new flagship and shoreside facilities are coming online, and as we welcome new staff as many long-time employees retire. Antje will oversee an expansion of MBARI’s ability to explore the deep sea locally and abroad, and in concert with our partners at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, communicate the importance of our findings to help resource managers and decision-makers protect and promote ocean health for the benefit of all. I look forward to passing the torch to Antje this May.
Last year, I reflected on my time at the institute through a lens of “looking forward by looking back”—a consideration of how David Packard’s vision for MBARI had come to fruition, and my appreciation for the lasting impact he had in shaping the institute’s future, and mine. Packard foresaw a unique opportunity to spur ocean exploration through a combination of place-based research, teaming, excellence, and innovation. Monterey Bay, with its iconic submarine canyon, offered ready access to the deep sea and its untold mysteries. An emphasis on science-engineering partnerships combined with state-of-the-art manufacturing and marine operations capabilities would open the door to new discoveries. As we learned and grew as an institution and a collaborative community, we would be inspired to embrace what was possible, even if that meant bucking popular trends of the day. MBARI took heed of that vision and has grown to be a world-class organization thanks to the dedication and contributions of many. It has truly been an honor and privilege to serve as the institute’s president and CEO for the past 15 years.
I have no doubt that the coming decades will yield new scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs that will continue to reveal how important the sea is to the health of our planet and the well-being of society. The ocean is undergoing profound and rapid change driven by human activity. We need to know more about that, what it means for all life in the sea, what it means for us, and what we can do to better care for our ocean so that it can care for us. As the ocean faces unprecedented challenges, your engagement can help amplify our mission to protect this vital resource.
Please join us as we forge ahead on that mission by visiting our website, subscribing to our newsletter, and following us on social media. And if you happen to find yourself in Moss Landing this summer, please come to our Open House—we would love to see you!
