Every month our Volunteer office sorts through piles of nominations from supervisors (and sometimes entire departments!) and honors one of our volunteers for their truly stupendous efforts. Meet our latest Volunteer of the Month.

This month we are excited to award Marine Mammal dive volunteer Mark Murray.

The vast majority of our volunteers serve on land, but there are a few who spend almost all of their time underwater! Our Marine Mammal dive volunteers spend their time cleaning the underwater enclosures and exhibits for the harbor seals, fur seals and sea lions, and this month we’re honoring Mark Murray—one of the original Marine Mammal dive volunteers!

Marine Mammal Trainer Patty Schilling writes:
“Mark Murray has been a marine mammal volunteer since the 1990s. He began his time with us as a full-day volunteer and then transitioned to one of our very first dive volunteers. Mark’s commitment to the Aquarium and to our department is amazing. He is willing to give up Saturday mornings with his family to help us vacuum the “deposits” left behind by our Atlantic harbor seals. Mark always comes in with a smile and gets right to work. Before every dive we have to set up dive gear and prepare the vacuum system, but all of this work is a breeze when Mark is here. Sometimes we get to the exhibit and Mark has done it all! The time he has devoted, his upbeat attitude and his dedication to maintaining a high standard of cleanliness in our exhibit are all reasons why Mark is deserving of volunteer of the month.”

Thank you, Mark, for helping to keep our mammals’ underwater space clean and healthy!