Hello, this is Ever Wonder? from the California Science Center, I'm D Hunter White. Here at the California Science Center in the heart of our Ecosystems Gallery, a hidden world awaits, a kelp forest, 188,000 gallons of water, 25 feet deep and teeming with life that stretches out before you, but under this burdened canopy, a secret lurks who dares venture into these watery shadows, divers! That's right, we have divers, but why ever wonder what divers do at the California Science Center? Well, today I'll be chatting with Marine Operations Manager, Andrew Solomon, as he navigates us through some of the important tasks he and the dive team accomplish as they help care for all of our aquatic life. So sit back and relax as we plunger right into our conversation with Andrew Solomon. Andrew, you are the Marine Operations Manager here at the California Science Center Foundation. Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you. Hello Podcast world.

So Andrew, I know that you do a lot here at the California Science Center. You're involved with collections of several of our aquatic species. You function as a dive safety officer here as well. But I would like to start with a question about our divers. Why do we have divers here at the California Science Center?

Well, if you've ever visited the California Science Center, and if you've ever been inside of our Ecosystems gallery, then you know, we have a number of aquatic exhibits that display various environments with, you know, different species of animals and kind of the, the count crowning jewel of the kelp Forest Gallery is our kelp forest exhibit. It's 188,000 gallon exhibit and it is representative of the same type of ecosystem that you find right here off our coast in California. It's 25 feet deep if you lay flat on the bottom because of its size, our divers dive in our exhibits to serve kind of a , a few key functions. One of them is feeding animals. They also are in there to clean the exhibit, so whether it's hydro vacuuming the sand or wiping the acrylic window to remove any algae growth so that our guests can continue to see inside of the exhibit. We also do public presentations for the guests. So you may have been around at a time where you've seen a diver in the inside the exhibit and actually able to talk to the guests from inside. So we do provide educational content for our guests . And then, you know, one of the really big and important functions of the entire dive team is that they all contribute to the welfare of our animals. I mentioned that a little bit earlier. So our divers are in there on such a regular basis and they're feeding animals, they're getting up close with the animals, and so because of that interaction, they're, they're able to make assessments to the health of the animals. The dive team in some way acts as a liaison to the aquatic husbandry team and our veterinarian care team, which then, then are responsible for the actual mitigation of those potential illnesses or behaviors that are outside of the norm.

What's a typical feeding schedule for the various species that we have here?

We have a, a mixed species exhibit, which means that we have both predator and prey species that, that inhabit the kelp forest. Um, which is I think, really unique and important for displaying a full depiction of what our guests might experience if they were to dive into the kelp forest off our coast. But with that comes a very unique set of challenges in order to keep the predators from, from preying on the prey animals in our exhibits, we have to make sure that the diets are well balanced and that the animals are getting not only proper nutrition, but they're properly satiated. Our divers feed our exhibits seven days a week, almost 365 days a year. That doesn't mean that they are feeding every animal every day. The husbandry staff really make it a point to create a feeding schedule that is balanced based on the needs of that species. For an example, you know, our moray eels that we, we feed on a regular basis, they get fed a couple of times a week, and usually there are spaces in between those days that they get fed. Every animal or species of animal is getting fed every week, but how often they get fed and on what days they get fed depends on what day of the week it is and, and what the needs of their, their diet is.

What about feeding techniques? Are there any special feeding techniques used for specific animals?

Yeah, there's a couple different feeding techniques that are employed not only at our institution, but at most zoos and aquariums or museums that have aquarium displays. One of the techniques is called scatter feeding or broadcast feeding. And that's something that, you know, if our, our listeners of this podcast, if you have a fish tank at home, that is most likely the, the technique that you employ when you feed your, your home fish tank. And so you simply just scatter or sprinkle food into the water column and all of the more aggressive or opportunistic animals are gonna come over and they're gonna congregate near that, that food that's being spread out into the water. It is a, a very useful technique to feeding a lot of animals at once. However, it is not as effective in making sure that all of the animals get, get fed properly because only the fast the more fast and aggressive animals are going to to get that food. We use that technique oftentimes as a distraction. So we'll broadcast feed to distract those animals to one side of the exhibit. And that allows us to use the other common method of feeding called target feeding, where you're directly targeting a specific species and you are, we use tongs here at the Science Center, but you're using feeding tongs to directly give food to individuals mouths within that species of animals. And so target feeding is really important for feeding the animals that are less opportunistic. They're a little bit slower or ones that you want to, to target specifically to make sure that they are getting the diet that they need. When we feed on a daily basis, we are often employing both of those feeding techniques simultaneously to accomplish the feeding tasks for the day. So we'll have distractors in the exhibit that are pulling animals to one side of the exhibit, and then we'll have divers going in and they are target feeding , um, and feeding very specific species.

You mentioned earlier about the diverse collection of marine life that we have in, in our kelp tank. So what are some of the challenges in acquiring such a diverse collection?

Some of the, the challenges with acquiring either the animals that you see on display or the kelp that you see on display is that there are a lot of resources and time that goes into organizing, planning and executing a collection. And then on the back end of the collection is you have to bring and acclimate your species that you collected to be ready to be put into the exhibit on display. So it is a very time intensive, labor intensive and resource intensive endeavor to, to run a collection. What it typically looks like for us is there is communication between the dive safety team and the aquatic husbandry team. They will, the aquatic husbandry team will tell us what it is that they are hoping to collect and when they are looking to, to execute the collection. And in collaboration with those two groups, we will put a team of divers together to carry out the collection. And once the dive team is selected and the date is selected, we will start to put together the logistical planning of making sure that the boat is available to run the trip or if it is a shore based collection, what dive site are we going to be going to? We will pull all the collection equipment together, we have to put together dive plans, we have to put together float plans. If we're running a boat trip, we have to put in the intent to collect paperwork with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to let them know that we are intending on running a collection. And then as the day gets closer, we start implementing those, those logistics and those plans that we've put in place. So it really is a collaborative effort between those two groups, you know, the dive safety team overseeing the dive operation itself, the aquatic husbandry team there to lend their expertise in not only collecting the specimens, but making sure that the transport from the collection site back to the Science Center is done correctly. The good thing about the Science Center is we have a lot of very smart and very experienced people within our living collections department that we are very well versed now at, at doing that and doing it effectively and efficiently.

Can you walk us through how you started diving, how you got interested in this and how you found out? It was a passion.

I grew up around the ocean. You know, my family, we took a lot of trips to the beach. I spent a lot of time in the surf zone as a, you know, a teen, whether it was body surfing or boogie boarding or just hanging out in and amongst the , uh, the waves. Uh, so I always grew up around the ocean and, and really had a passion that eventually turned into a curiosity. You know, when you're standing on the beach and you're looking out out at the ocean, it's a very homogenous view and underneath that is a much more complex and diverse environment. I always, I think, was very drawn to that and very curious about it. And when I was near the end of , uh, high school and I was getting close to graduation, my family made a trip out to Hawaii. Not only did I get to do some snorkeling there, but I also got to kind of do my first experience with breathing compressed gas underwater. They were using a mode of diving called snuba diving, and basically what it is, is you have a , a scuba tank on the surface in a, in a float or a raft, and connected to that is a , a , an extended breathing gas hose that allows myself as, as a diver to go below the surface. That really is what I would say peaked my interest in wanting to pursue getting certified as a scuba diver. And around that same time I was going off to college and I was a declared marine biology major, and so I just felt like scuba diving and marine biology would probably go well together. I really, like you said, I was just pursuing what interested me and, and the, the ocean. And from an academic perspective, marine biology interested me and then also having done the scuba diving experience, I I wanted to learn how to scuba dive .

Are there any danger factors in when you scuba dive either out in the field or maybe even here in the kelp forest ?

Yeah, diving is an inherently risky activity, which is why training is so important. Receiving proper training, adequate training is really important and, and those risks very much can be mitigated through proper training in , in some ways that's why my job exists is because in an employee employer setting, we have to offer the proper protections to our employees who are using diving as a tool to do their job. Most commonly people when they think about diving and they think about diving injuries or diving maladies, they think of decompression sickness or the bends , which is a, a potential risk factor. So that is something that as divers, you have to learn about and become educated on so that you can minimize and prevent to the best of your ability, the risk of decompression sickness. We breathe air, we need air to survive, and so we are bringing that air supply with us underwater. And if you run out of air underwater, it can be very, very dangerous. There's training around proper gas management and making sure that you have adequate air supply and what to do in an emergency if you, if you do have an out of air emergency, you know, I don't say this for people to shy away from exploring scuba diving because it is a very safe recreational activity, but there are definitely inherent risks associated with it and there's, there's a good number of 'em and the more more experience you get with diving, the more technical type of diving you're doing, there is more and more risk associated with it.

Now see, I have, or I had a very naive understanding of diving man, I thought I'd be able to put a , a scuba tank on and just jump into the water and I'd be good to go. But I'm understanding that there is a whole science connected to diving. I mean even the depth, how does the depth of a dive factor into the preparation?

The gas that we breathe as scuba divers is air. It is , uh, made up of 21% oxygen, which is the, the gas that our body needs to metabolize and to survive. And then a bulk of the gas that we breathe or the air that we breathe is nitrogen. And that is what is called an inner gas, which means our body doesn't metabolize, it just stays in our system. The deeper you go below the water column, the more dense the gas that you breathe. So when we, we breathe air out of our scuba cylinders, the gas is more dense, which means there's more molecules of nitrogen, there's more molecules of oxygen in every breath we take. And so the deeper you go, the more nitrogen you are putting into your system and that nitrogen dissolves into our body tissues. But unlike oxygen, which our body is metabolizing, nitrogen just stays in your body tissues. When you start to come up in the water column and you start to ascend towards the surface to end your dive, the pressure around you is decreasing. And so those gases start to come out of solution or out of your body tissues. And if you don't off-gas, the nitrogen at an appropriate rate, that is what can cause decompression sickness or the bends. Those are the factors that you have to consider when you are diving. One of the factors that you have to consider when you're diving deeper, it's called decompression planning, and it is a type of diving science. A a good example of this, maybe a better example that is more relatable to people. When you have a, a carbonated can of soda inside of that is a liquid, which is the , the soda and the carbonation or the carbon dioxide is dissolved inside of that fluid inside of there is a given amount of pressure inside of that can. And when you crack the lid of that can, you are now changing the pressure inside of that can and the pressure is equalizing with the surrounding environment that you're in the atmosphere. Um, and so what happens is you hear that , um, sound and that is all the carbon dioxide coming out of solution at a very fast rate because you have very rapidly changed the pressure inside of that can, that same principle is what I'm talking about when I say that our body has nitrogen inside of our body tissues. And if you ascend at a very rapid rate and you don't have , um, the proper time to off gas the nitrogen out of your body tissues, that same principle can happen where the nitrogen comes out of your tissues in your body, in in gas bubble form. So to kind of give an analogy or a comparison that maybe people can relate to.

What would you say to those people that want to pursue a career of diving? What would you suggest be their first step?

There's different first steps that you can take. You know, snorkeling is a, is a good entryway into , uh, seeing your comfort level in the water , uh, or taking a snorkeling class is probably better. I think taking a discover SCUBA class is usually a , another good pathway as well. Scuba diving is, is not for everybody and, and that's okay, but oftentimes you, you don't figure that out until you actually have the opportunity to start learning how to dive. The open water class has a, you know, a cost associated with it. And so before starting to, to make that investment in the training and the equipment and all that kind of stuff, taking a Discover SCUBA course is, is a good pathway to, to find out if diving is a , a good fit for you or you can just go for it and take an open water scuba class and start pursuing that first level of certification.

Did you have a mentor or was there anyone that kind of inspired you to continue on this path?

I've had a number of mentors throughout my career and , and up until this point on , on the diving side, I would say, you know, probably my first mentor was my, my first scuba instructor. I learned how to dive through Sports LA and I took a lesson with an instructor who she actually taught my first three levels of certification in diving. I had two other mentors, one of which he is the diving safety officer for UC Santa Cruz, which is where I went to college, and he taught me how to be a scientific diver. The scientific diver certification is, is really the certification that I always say taught me how to be the diver that I am today in terms of skills, underwater competency, underwater comfort level, underwater. That skillset was developed through my scientific diver course. Probably one of my biggest mentors was my boss when I worked at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. You know, he's is the diving safety officer for their institution, and that is, that's really where I cut my teeth and being a diving safety officer, being an assistant diving safety officer and starting to develop the, on the job skills and experience to have the job that I have now, he really mentored me through those first five years in, in being a dive program administrator and running an occupational dive program at a , a zoo or an aquarium or in the case at the Science Center at a , at a science museum.

What, what would you be doing if you were not doing this?

That's a good question. I have no idea. I mean, I , I got a degree in marine biology, so I would hope that I would be doing something within the field. I really like the technical aspect of my job and I like working with my hands and I like working with mechanical based stuff, but I only learned that I have an enjoyment and get fulfillment of, of that because of this job. So if I didn't pursue this path, I don't know that I would have found my way to those kinds of things.

That's actually a really great answer because that just solidifies the fact that you are exactly where you're supposed to be. Andrew, is there anything more you'd like to share with our listeners?

You know, when our guests come and they see divers underwater, it's, I think it's surprising. I think it's , uh, intriguing. It's exciting for our guests, and so to have the opportunity to talk about our dive program and talk about why we have a dive program and what the function is and, and just share that little bit of extra insight into a very unique and small facet of what the Science Center does is I, I feel honored to, to be able to, to talk about this with, with our guests and whoever , you know, whoever's listening to this podcast. And I just encourage everybody to ask questions when you're here visiting and you , you see our divers like ask questions. If you're, if you're curious and you wanna learn more, you can even ask our divers. So you may very well find yourself on top of the kelp forest exhibit and be right there face to face with one of our divers as they're getting in or getting out of the exhibit. That's a great opportunity to ask questions about diving either as a hobby or as a potential career. You know, I want to say thank you to, to our guests and to our listeners because you are really what makes the Science Center possible. It's your curiosity and your interest in science and science learning and we, we just appreciate you.

Well said, well said Andrew. Where can our listeners find you or follow your work online?

I think if you want to find me, find me, you have to go to LinkedIn and, and search Andrew Solomon and, you know, feel free to shoot me a message or a question. You can also actually probably get in touch with me through the California Science Center's info email. I think there's, there is an avenue or a pathway for people to ask questions through the science center's communication channels.

That is correct. That would be 4info@californiasciencecenter.org. And Andrew, on that note, I would like to thank you on behalf of the podcast and thank you for hanging out with us on Ever Wonder? from the California Science Center.

Yeah, thank you. Take care.

And that's our show. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep wondering. Ever Wonder? from the California Science Center is produced and edited by me, D Hunter White, along with Jennifer Aguire , Karen Royo , Liz Roth Johnson and Perry Roth Johnson. Theme music is provided by Michael Nickolas and Pond5. We'll drop a new episode every other Wednesday. Hey, if you're a fan of the show, be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcast. It really helps other people discover our show, have a question you've been wondering about. Send us an email or voice recording to ever wonder@californiasciencecenter.org to tell us what you'd like to hear in future episodes .