The Facility
At the center of the TRCC program is a unique facility, established at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station in September of 1994 for the maintenance of captive tunas. Located between Hopkins and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the TRCC facility consists of a 7500 square foot building that houses three holding tanks, each with its own life-support system. Two tanks hold 30,000 gallons (109 m3) each and one holds 90,000 gallons (327 m3) of sea water, freshly supplied from the aquarium’s off-shore intake. It also houses a suite of laboratories for carrying out physiological studies.
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The TRCC staff, working in collaboration with aquarium personnel, maintain two large populations of tunas, one in the TRCC facility and one on exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The TRCC serves as a research center for basic biology of tunas and other highly migratory fishes, with an emphasis on the development of tagging technology, physiology, biomechanics and captive husbandry. Researchers and students from Stanford, the surrounding Monterey Bay Institutions, as well as the international community are involved with projects at the TRCC on the biology of these animals.