Go behind the scenes with Marine Institute at Maui Ocean Center

Guests on Maui Ocean Center’s Behind the Scenes Tours will now make a stop at The Marine Institute at Maui Ocean Center to learn about the nonprofit organization’s work protecting Maui’s marine resources.

A tour guide gives an overview of the organization’s marine conservation initiatives including coral restoration, monk seal response, and how staff and volunteers care for injured sea turtles. Topics also include the impending threats these animals are currently experiencing.

“Education and outreach are central to achieving meaningful, long-lasting conservation outcomes,” said Dustin Paradis, executive director of The Marine Institute at Maui Ocean Center. “Our goal is to inform, inspire and motivate the next generation of ocean stewards, so we have a real chance at scalable ecosystem recovery.”

After visiting The Marine Institute at Maui Ocean Center, the tour continues to the aquarium’s adjacent coral nursery. The nursery showcases about 40 species of coral, many of which are rare and endemic. Guests can even feed squid and brine shrimp to the nursery’s mushroom coral.

Tour participants then get a closer look at how Maui Ocean Center cares for marine life at the aquarium with visits to Turtle Lagoon and Nursery Bay, an exhibit with shark pups and a juvenile Hawaiian broad stingray.

Hour-long tours start at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Eight dollars from each ticket sold will help support the work of The Marine Institute at Maui Ocean Center.

Maui Ocean Center’s education department also leads Hawaiian Culture and Plant Tours from 10:30 a.m. to noon each Thursday. Other educational programs include summer camp, sleepovers and “Sea Tots” launching May 19. For more information, visit mauioceancenter.com.