When you think of aquarium volunteers, what kind of image comes to mind?
People who guide visitors through exhibits. People who explain aquatic life. People who help with events. None of these are wrong. In fact, these roles have long been valued in aquariums.
What I want to reconsider now, however, is this: what kind of presence should volunteers be in aquariums going forward?
A Brief Introduction
For the past 14 years, I have been involved in aquarium volunteering and volunteer management at an aquarium in Tokyo. I have not only worked directly with visitors on the floor, but also helped design the overall operation and structure of the program, so volunteering has been one of the themes I have been thinking about for quite a long time.
With those experiences and questions in mind, I recently founded OSACANA LLC. Through aquariums, education, research, and communication, OSACANA aims to open up learning into action that connects with society.
What I most want to convey in this article is this: aquarium volunteers should be understood not simply as helpers, but as people who connect exhibits and visitors, deepen learning, and create points of contact with society.
Today’s aquariums are no longer places where people simply “look at” living animals. They are also gateways to thinking about oceans and rivers, local nature, everyday life, and even the future shape of society. If that is true, then the volunteers who work there must also have a meaning that goes beyond being just support staff.
Recently, I have come to organize my thoughts on aquarium volunteers in three stages.
The first is the perspective of rethinking volunteers for today.
The second is a shift in role: from “people who help others learn about aquatic life” to “communicators.”
The third is the idea that, beyond that, learning can lead to action and change.
In this article, I would like to explain that flow in a way that is accessible to general readers. First, let me show the overall framework through which I see aquarium volunteers today.
Rethinking Volunteers for Today
Compared with the past, today’s aquariums are expected to play far more roles.
They are, of course, enjoyable places to visit, but they are also places where children learn, where local nature is interpreted, where environmental issues are made tangible, and where research and conservation are communicated.
As aquariums have changed in these ways, the role of volunteers can no longer remain the same.
If we think of volunteers only as “people who fill gaps where staff are lacking,” the possibilities of the aquarium stop there. Of course, manpower matters in any real-world setting. But if that becomes the only goal, the strengths of the people involved cannot fully come alive.
What matters most is to first ask, why does this aquarium have volunteers in the first place?
Is it because the aquarium wants to increase conversations with visitors?
Because it wants people to enjoy exhibits more deeply?
Because it wants to create more opportunities for children and families to become interested in nature?
Because it wants to build a structure through which local people can stay involved with the aquarium?
If this question of “what for?” remains vague, then recruitment, training, and evaluation all become somewhat directionless.
Another important point is that people do not participate for only one reason.
Some want to take part because they love living animals.
Some want to learn.
Some want to be helpful.
Some want a place to connect with society outside work or school.
The doorway is different for each person.
That is why the volunteer systems of the future cannot rely on goodwill alone. They need to be designed as systems in which diverse people can take part with different motivations while still connecting with the purpose of the aquarium itself. That is what I mean when I say “volunteers for today.”
From “People Who Explain Aquatic Life” to “Communicators”
At this point, I would like to reframe the role itself a little.
Until now, aquarium volunteers have often been described as “people who help others learn about aquatic life.” Of course, conveying knowledge about living animals is important. It is essential for helping people appreciate the appeal of the exhibits.
But I feel that, going forward, that alone may not be enough.
Even when looking at the same tank, visitors respond in different ways.
Some say, “That’s cute.”
Some say, “I’ve eaten that before.”
Some children ask, “Why is it that color?”
Some adults wonder, “Do they live in the sea near where I’m from?”
To gently receive each person’s interest and build a bridge from that interest toward the exhibit and toward nature:
what is needed here is not only the ability to explain knowledge one-way.
It is also the ability to sense another person’s curiosity, choose the right words, and create conversation.
That is why I believe volunteers should be seen not only as “people who explain,” but as communicators.
A communicator is someone who connects exhibits and visitors, and who helps create new ways of seeing between visitors and nature.
To make that possible, enthusiasm and personal commitment alone are not enough. At a minimum, we need to think about the following points.
First, what volunteers do (expertise).
Is it enough for them to learn only factual knowledge about aquatic life? Or should they also learn how to engage in dialogue with visitors?
Second, how to support diverse participants (operations).
Can busy people still be involved? Can the program embrace both people who stay involved over the long term and those who participate only from time to time?
Third, how to work with staff and on-site teams (internal alignment).
If animal care, education, exhibits, operations, and volunteers all remain disconnected, the activity will not grow well.
Fourth, how to create reasons to stay involved (retention).
Do volunteers gain learning? A sense of role? Human connection? What do they receive through participation?
Fifth, what counts as a good activity (evaluation).
It is not enough to look only at the number of people involved or the number of activity hours. We also need to ask whether conversations with visitors increased, or whether the activity created moments that helped people enjoy the exhibits more deeply.
This is not a matter of difficult theory. I think these are simple but important questions for building a good volunteer system.
Beyond That: Social Action & Change
So why is it necessary to rethink the role of volunteers to this extent?
Because aquariums are not simply places that transmit information. They can also become places that lead to changes in how people act and how they see the world.
I use the phrase Social Action & Change to describe this idea that learning can lead to action and change. It may sound a little grand, but I do not mean only large-scale social movements.
For example, someone sees an animal at an aquarium and then goes home and talks about the ocean.
A child asks, “Why are there fewer of these fish now?”
While traveling, someone begins to see the rivers or sea of that place a little differently.
Someone becomes a little more conscious than before about food, daily life, and their connection to nature.
An accumulation of such small changes is also a real form of Action & Change.
And very often, the entrance to that change is an interaction with another person.
Rather than simply looking at an exhibit and moving on, a short exchange or a question asked there stays in memory. Part of the value of an aquarium lies in exactly that kind of moment.
That is why rethinking volunteers for today is not merely an operational issue.
It is about the future of the aquarium itself: what kinds of people connect exhibits and visitors, and how they do so.
People first learn about aquatic life.
Then they take a step further and become communicators who generate dialogue.
And beyond that, learning can lead to small changes in action that connect to society.
I would like to keep thinking about aquarium volunteers as a system that supports this whole process.
Perhaps that is the kind of perspective today’s aquariums need.
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