Curator glad to add some teeth to Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef

The caverns and tunnels of the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay are a cacophony of squealing kids, chattering tourists and parents herding families past the attractions.

But the most energy in the entire 90,000-square-foot aquarium still belongs to Jack Jewell, the general curator.

Jewell, who has been at the aquarium since before it opened in 2000, zips through the attractions rattling off facts and thoughts about everything from the pirate ship to the crocodile habitat to the touch pool for stingrays, sharks, sea urchins and horseshoe crabs.

He gets even more animated when the conversation turns to conservation.

Jewell revels in the chance to take the talk beyond the acrylic tunnel that takes visitors through a 1.3 million-gallon shark tank and other exhibits that house more than 100 species, including 15 kinds of sharks.

The aquarium is a window for landlocked visitors and desert residents to experience the oceans and learn about how the life, currents and health of the seas influence the entire planet -- even in Las Vegas, where the closest thing to underwater experiences come in aqua-themed casinos.

Jewell said that the Shark Reef has gone beyond success as a tourist attraction to gain respect for being on par with some of America's top educational aquariums.

The Shark Reef is open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily and costs from $6.95 to $15.95 depending on age and residency.

Question: How do you maintain an attraction as an educational experience without allowing it to be cheapened by promotion?

Answer: One of the key things we were doing from the very beginning was to get Association of Zoos and Aquariums accreditation. That is the highest standard of aquarium accreditation. And we have been accredited since 2003. So clearly the reason we were built was to meet those standards. That includes conservation, research and education.

Question: What is the significance of the accreditation?

Answer: To give you an example, there are about 2,500 aquariums in the U.S. Only about 240 of them are accredited. That is the top 10 percent. That is a very, very strict set of standards you have to meet. And it covers everything -- animal care, veterinary care, diet, lifestyle, you name it. It has to meet the standards of places like Monterey Bay (Calif.) Aquarium, Shedd Aquarium (Chicago), New England Aquarium (Boston). We are right there with that group of people with respect to our standard of animal care.

Question: Did the Shark Reef have credibility with other aquariums from the beginning?

Answer: Being in Las Vegas, initially we all struggled to get some credibility. That is something I can tell you with complete confidence has changed dramatically. Initially there are always questions. Las Vegas has tremendous resources. Tremendous resources is what it takes to take care of animals, to hire people who have the abilities to take care of animals in the fashion they need to be. A lot of places don't have that. Many of our animals are exchanged back and forth with these other institutions.

Question: Why did you come to the Shark Reef?

Answer: We came here because we had a chance to create a real community aquarium, to be educators, to be conservationists, to be involved. That's why we all came here several years ago. We are really proud of the progress we made.

Question: How are you doing anything for conservation if you are not breeding the fish and letting them go into the wild?

Answer: The biggest thing about aquariums and zoos is we bring the animals to people who would never see them. Anything you don't know you can't understand and you can't appreciate. If you see it you learn to appreciate it. You have to see it and feel it and experience it. Aquariums bring that to people. They see it and they stand there and they go, "Wow, this is cool." Then we have to say, "Now what are you going to do (to support conservation)?" We'll do our part. You do your part.

Question: Is it possible for a company like MGM Mirage, which makes money from restaurants selling seafood, to also support conservation of the oceans?

Answer: You'd be surprised it is the chefs who have the highest level of responsibility. These guys are informed. They understand it is their livelihood. Their livelihood is fish. If they disappear they are out of work. They understand it completely. They are more than willing to get on board.

If (the Shark Reef workers) inspire the consumer, they make the right choices. If we make the choices everybody will change to accommodate our choices. This is a very simple tool we incorporate. (Shows consumer guide for ordering fish in restaurants available at Shark Reef.) A million people a year will have the opportunity to experience (the Shark Reef) and walk away with this in their hand. I think that can make a significant difference, especially when you consider the million people we see are not the same million people each year. We are seeing a lot of new people every year.

Question: Aside from fish, which can be farmed as a food source, why is the health of the oceans important?

Answer: I always joke about this. Whoever named the planet had a huge sense of humor because it is called planet Earth. We are still trying to figure out why they named it that because it is planet Water. There is no earth here. Everything here is pretty much the oceans. Everything that happens here is based on the oceans. They are the driving force of this planet. The entire ecosystem is based on the ocean. If they start to change, everything will change.

During the 1970s, people with an ecologic mindset started to create a "darling" concept to save individual animal species. You can't save an animal. You have to save an entire ecosystem. You have to get people all on board to tie all these things together, then people can start taking responsible action.

Question: If everybody lived sustainable lifestyles, would we even be here in Las Vegas?

Answer: Sustainable lifestyles don't have to be boring lifestyles. They don't have to be unhappy or sad lifestyles. That is a misconception I think. There are a lot of ways to change the sustainability of the resources. I was driving in the 1970s. In the 1970s, the American car companies went into the toilet. They didn't go into the toilet because of what they did do. They went in the toilet because of what they didn't do. They didn't listen to consumers. American consumers wanted something else. We woke up. We realized we can't sustain (enormous oil consumption). We need to come back to that again. Will we? I think we are. Our main thing is to be inspiring. People come, they can touch a stingray or experience the sea urchins. They recognize the animals. They are inspired. We can take advantage of that and give them information and hopefully they will expand. Then we are active in our community to try and reach out. It is cleanups, we are involved with recycling. We are a player in change.

Question: Where is the line between pet fish and a credible aquarium?

Answer: These aren't pets. We respect their space and provide them with an environment and accommodate their needs.

Question: How do you keep the sharks and fish from eating each other?

Answer: There is occasional, rare predation. But it is part of a normal cycle. There is no reason it shouldn't happen. There is a misconception that sharks eat a lot of food. An adult shark eats about 4 1/2 to 2 percent of its body weight in a week. To get an idea of what we are talking about, that is roughly the same as me eating six quarter-pounders in a week. They are barely eating anything. Second, we are giving them food. My analogy is if you had just eaten a four-course meal would you run around a football field four times to eat a potato chip? Why? There is no reason for it. They don't waste energy. They are full. They have taken care of their energy needs. They are very efficient.

Question: Do the fish ever surprise you?

Answer: Fish don't ever not surprise me. Whether it is with their behavior, their instinctive behavior and what they can learn. I am endlessly surprised. (Fish) have incredible instincts. And sharks have phenomenal instincts. They are capable of learning. They are capable of remembering and doing things and making decisions based on instincts.