Launching Seward's Sea Life Center.

• Author: Hill, Robin Mackey
• Position: Seward Association for the Advancement of Marine Science

The Exxon Valdez oil spill hadn't even happened yet when a group of folks concerned about the welfare of Alaska's marine mammals and other forms of sea life began exploring the possibility of opening a world-class marine science center in Seward. Their thinking went something like this: Alaska claims 38 percent of all the coastline in the United States, and its waters host one of the largest concentrations of marine mammals and seabirds in the world.

The well-being of those creatures plays an integral role in the state's popular (and lucrative) fishing and tourism industries, but because of population declines, several of the species found in and around the state's waters are now classified as threatened. Among those are the bow-head whale, Aleutian Canadian goose and the Stellar sea lion, a species whose numbers have declined more than 50 percent in the last 12 years.

The clincher, however, was the realization that, despite the state's abundance of and reliance on marine populations, Alaska doesn't have a facility in which to care for injured animals, to study them in a controlled setting or to observe them in their undersea environment.

Then the Exxon Valdez spilled almost 11 million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound, and volunteers from around the country came to help wash oiled sea otters and stranded birds. A makeshift otter rehabilitation center was set up in Seward.

When volunteers and animal specialists had time to catch their breaths, they came to the same conclusion: Alaska needs a professionally staffed, well-designed and adequately funded facility in which to conduct rehabilitation, research and public education. The proposed Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward had gained the momentum and focus it needed.

Now, more than three years after the 1989 spill, the non-profit Seward Association for the Advancement of Marine Science (SAAMS) has unveiled plans for a $35 million to $40 million, privately funded facility in which to address all three objectives. The project, say those involved, is a natural for Alaska and its setting on Seward's Resurrection Bay is ideal. When completed, the facility will be one of the world's first marine attractions specifically built to accommodate all three activities.

"We think we're on to a real winner," says Bill Noll, former Seward mayor and a member of the SAAMS board of directors. "This is far from someone's bright idea. This is real."

Adds Assistant City Manager Mike Yanez, "Everybody...