DAVID CLARK POWELL

.

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EXPERIENCE SUMMARY

.....Forty years of extensive and varied experience in all facets associated with:

.....Aquatic Facility Design, Development, Operation and Management
.. . ..for successful Public Aquarium and Oceanarium Operations which included the areas of:

• Aquarium design and construction
• Aquarium operation techniques
• Design of innovative aquarium displays
• Marine specimen collecting
• Management and administration
• Laboratory operation

.....The highlights of experience in the above areas are presented as follows:

AQUARIUM DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

• Developed a high pressure aquarium for the exhibit of animals of the deep sea.
  
  
• Designed the innovative live exhibits for Monterey Bay Aquarium's $60 million Open Sea expansion project opened March, 1996 and Mysteries of the Deep opened March, 1999.
  
  
• Designed the live components of the seven highly successful Special Exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
  
  
• Worked with Architects, Engineers and Exhibit Designers on the Monterey Bay Aquarium, completed in October, 1984. This facility incorporates a number of unique exhibit, tank and life support designs and presently represents the state of the art in modern aquariums.
  
  
• Worked with Joe Wetzel Associates on the living exhibits for the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long beach, CA
  
  
• Designed the live exhibits for the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, SC, to open May, 2000.
  
  
• Designed the live exhibits for the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, LA, which opened in September, 1990.
  
  
• Worked with the Architects, Engineers and Construction Companies during all phases of the construction of Sea World's Freshwater Aquarium Building, Experimental Shark Tank, Tide Pool exhibit and Marine Aquarium expansion project. Designed the live displays and life support systems for the aquariums and the shark exhibits at Sea World of Ohio and Sea World of Florida.
  
  
• Participated in the complete demolition and reconstruction project for San Francisco's Steinhart Aquarium in 1962-63. During this rebuilding became thoroughly familiar with the many aspects of design and construction of a major world class public aquarium.
  
  
• In addition to the above, consultation services were performed involving the design of live exhibits for the following aquarium projects:
  • Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans, LA
    Ballona Creek, Los Angeles, CAChina, City of Dalien
    Chula Vista Interpretive Center, CA
    Coquimbo, Chile
    Cleveland Aquarium, OH
    Denver Zoological Gardens, CO
    Hawaiian Ocean Center, Honolulu, HI
    Island Bay Marine Ed. Centre, Wellington, New Zealand
    National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD
    New England Aquarium, Boston, MA
    Lima, Peru
    Mexico. National Aquarium of Mexico
    Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, CA
    Oakland Museum of Science, CA
    Osaka Ring of Fire Aquarium
    Portland, OR
    Sea of Cortez Aquarium
    Sea Life Park, Oahu, HI
    Singapore, Economic Research Associates
    Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL
    South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC
    Texas State Aquarium, Corpus Christi, TX
    Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town, South Africa
    Univ. of Calif. Berkeley, CA, Life Science Bldg.
    Washington, D.C. Zoological Society
    Waikiki Aquarium, Hawaii
    Wellington, New Zealand. Marine Education Centre
    

AQUARIUM MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION

• Was directly involved in every phase of the 24 hour-a-day, seven day-a-week operating schedule of the Husbandry Division of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Was previously responsible for the same at Steinhart Aquarium, Sea World and Marineland of the Pacific. Responsible for the continuous maintenance of clean, healthy and interesting aquatic displays.
  
  
• Possess a familiarity with all phases of Aquarium Management. This has been learned from the ground up and ranges from actual Aquarium Maintenance at Marineland to Aquarium Supervision at Sea World, Steinhart and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Aquarium Supervision involves the scheduling of staff, ordering of supplies and food for the animals and the scheduling of feeding and treatments for the thousands of different specimens on display, many of which require special diets and treatment. Other responsibilities included the purchasing of specimens, materials and general supplies necessary for the operation of a large public aquarium. Planned, organized and supervised eight successful large-scale fish and shark collecting expeditions to tropical Mexico, Florida and the South Pacific.
  
  
• In addition to the maintenance of the displays, animals and equipment described above, the operation of any public aquarium or oceanarium encompasses answering the profusion of written and in-person questions from the general public. Made television and radio appearances as well as oral presentations to outside organizations.
  
  
  

DESIGN OF INNOVATIVE AQUARIUM DISPLAYS

• Developed many new concepts and techniques for the display of aquatic organisms at Marineland of the Pacific, Steinhart Aquarium, Sea World, the largest and most successful Oceanarium in the U.S. and Monterey Bay Aquarium, the most successful Public Aquarium in the U.S. Many of these new exhibit techniques have been duplicated at other aquariums of the world.
  
  
• My continuous desire to bring new and stimulating exhibits to the public eye has resulted in the display of many aquatic animals never seen before.

 SPECIMEN COLLECTING

• While at Marineland of the Pacific as head aquarist was responsible for the underwater collection, by means of SCUBA of marine animals and, in addition, assisted the chief collector in the capture and transport of whales, dolphins and large fishes.
  
  
• Operated a private business of supplying Universities, wholesalers and aquarium stores with marine animals collected by means of a dive boat and underwater collecting equipment and methods.
  
  
• Operated this business while employed at Marineland, Steinhart and Sea World. Developed several new techniques for the capture of rare or unusually wary creatures. These methods included the development and use of the "slurp gun", the use of fish anaesthetics, night diving and special nets and traps.
  
  
• Diver-Ichthyologist Member of the California Academy of Sciences 1964 Scientific Expedition to the Gulf of California.
  
  
• In charge of the Experimental Shark Tank at Sea World and was responsible for developing new techniques for the capture and transport of large sharks over long distances. Developed the self-contained shark transport box and oxygen pump supersaturation technique currently in use today.
  
  
• Responsible for the animal transport system during the California Academy of Sciences 1974 Coelacanth Expedition to the Comorro Islands in the Indian Ocean.
  
   

LABORATORY OPERATION

•  Performed bioassays, using fishes as the test organisms, upon oil company and sewage treatment plant effluents submitted by the California Department of Fish and Game. This work consisted of continuous testing of pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, hardness and the reactions of the test organisms. Results of this work were used in court cases.
  
  
•  While at Marineland, established a program of monitoring the bacterial concentration of the large marine mammal and fish tanks with a view to installing a system of ultraviolet sterilization of the circulating water.
  
  
•  Responsible for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of fish diseases at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Sea World, Marineland and Steinhart Aquarium.
  
  
•  At the laboratory of the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant, conducted bacteriological testing of sewage and ocean waters and made turbidity readings of seawater samples taken from Santa Monica Bay. Performed counts and identification of plankton and made an extensive series of photomicrographs of the plankton specimens. On board the sampling boat, operated the plankton net and bathythermograph recorder as well as taking dissolved oxygen and bacterial samples.
  
   

EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND

1998--present Aquarium Exhibit Design Consultation

1993--1998 Director of Live Exhibit Development, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA

1980--1993 Director of Husbandry, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA

1974--1980 Curator, Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA

1965--1974 Curator of Fishes, Sea World, San Diego, CA

1962--1965 Assistant Curator of Aquatic Biology, Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA

1959--1962 Head Aquarist, Marineland of the Pacific, Palos Verdes, CA

1960--1962 Bioanalyst--self employed

1961--1962 California Marine Biological Supply Co., self-employed

1958--1959 Laboratory Assistant, Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant, City of Los Angeles, CA

1956--1957 Marine Specimen Collector (part-time), UCLA Zoology Dept., Los Angeles, CA

1953--1954 Marine Biologist, California Department of Fish and Game, Long Beach, CA

1946--1947 Medical Technician, US Army, Okinawa

1944--1946 U.S. Merchant Marine, North Atlantic & South Pacific.

EDUCATION

1957 University of California, Los Angeles, M.A. Zoology/Fisheries Biology
1953 University of California, Los Angeles, B.A. Zoology
1943 Friends' High School, Saffron Walden, England

 

PUBLICATIONS

Author of "A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer"
published by the University of California Press/Monterey Bay Aquarium, 2001
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8949.html.

PERSONAL DATA

Born 1927, Barberton, South Africa
Married, 2 grown children
Excellent health
Height: 5' 10", 178cm, Weight 160lbs, 72kg

MEMBERSHIPS

AZA Association of Zoos and Aquariums
AES American Elasmobranch Society
SPOOF Society for the Protection of Old Fishes
American Civil Liberties Union
Union of Concerned Scientists
Friends of the Monarchs
Listed in Who's Who of the West

REFERENCES

References will be provided upon request