Harry Helling

Harry Helling is executive director of Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Since taking on the role in 2015, he has introduced a new and expansive vision for the future of the aquarium, opened seven major exhibits, and embraced a mission to protect our ocean planet.

The reimagined Birch Aquarium has also included ambitious goals for redefining the role of a public aquarium in meeting the challenges of climate change. Its work has included the launch of a new department that connects Scripps’ climate science to innovative outreach, an education department offering groundbreaking on-the-water learning experiences, and an expanded husbandry team exploring new approaches to conservation programming.

“Our mission is to connect understanding to protecting our ocean planet, and we do that in many different ways,” Helling told blooloop.

“We’re small by aquarium standards, but we’re located within an 80-acre, top-tier oceanographic research centre, which makes us quite different from most aquariums in the world.”

He added, “We like to think of ourselves as less a 60,000-square-foot aquarium, and more an 80-acre oceanographic campus experience, connecting guests directly with the science that can help protect our ocean planet."

Before joining Birch Aquarium, Helling served for seven years as CEO for the Crystal Cove Conservancy in Newport Coast, California. For more than 23 years, he served as president and vice president of education and research at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, California.