If you’ve ever wondered how Southern California’s native marine species are faring, but weren’t quite sure how to find out — Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific has a new resource to help.

The aquarium on Thursday celebrated the launch of its inaugural Marine Species Report Card, which documents the well-being of local ocean creatures as they continue grappling with numerous challenges impacting their native habitat.

“There are report cards, usually around water quality and beach characteristics up and down the coast,” Jennie Dean, the aquarium’s vice president of education and conservation, said Thursday. “But the same did not exist for species. This is an opportunity to share things in similar ways to those report cards — but focus on the nature side exclusively.”

The report card, which currently contains information about the population trends for 30 different marine species — including mammals, birds, invertebrates, kelp, white abalone and California sea lions — has been under development since 2023.

Researchers, scientists and government agencies from across the state contributed to the creation of the aquarium’s report card.

“It is spearheaded by the Aquarium of the Pacific, but fueled by contributors from across the state,” Dean said. “We have other institutions, nonprofits, academic institutions whose staff participated and served as experts in this initiative.”

Besides population trends, the report also features information about the species and the threats they face.

“(The report card is) also fueled by data, and the data doesn’t come from the Aquarium of the Pacific,” Dean said. “It comes from state agencies, federal agencies, community science initiatives, etc., across the state — it’s reflecting the assets and wealth of the entire scientific community, more broadly than the aquarium.”

The new report card is a much-needed resource to keep the scientific community apprised of population trends, conservation needs and the biodiversity of the ecosystem, aquarium officials said.

“Knowing which species need intervention requires knowledge of their population,” said Peter Kareiva, Aquarium of the Pacific president and CEO. “If we know a species is declining, we might be able to take action before it is too late.”

One marine species included on the list, for example, is bull kelp — an unassuming, yet integral, facet of California’s ocean ecosystem.

The expansive underwater forests provide protection for vulnerable sea creatures, and many of them rely on bull kelp as a food source. Bull kelp is also a vital asset for people, providing plentiful oxygen production and coastal protection from erosion and other damage caused by waves.

California’s kelp forests were once abundant, but have faced decimation in recent years. Since 2014, more than 95% of Northern California’s bull kelp forests have been destroyed — a result of numerous ongoing challenges, including rising ocean temperatures and an explosion in the sea urchin population.

The Marine Species Report Card features the plight of bull kelp, information about how to contribute to conservation efforts, and more — but it also includes resources about the success stories for other marine species.

The southern sea otter population, for example, has made quite a comeback in recent years. At their lowest population level, according to the aquarium’s vice president of animal care, Brett Long, there were just 32 of the mammals left in California — though their historical habitat spans the coastline from Mexico to Oregon.

There are now almost 3,000 southern sea otters, restricted to the Central California Coast, which has remained relatively steady for the past five or six years, Long said.

Their population is now increasing at a yearly rate of about 1.6%, according to the report card, though the otters have yet to crack the 3,000-mark.

Southern sea otters also haven’t been able to move beyond the Central Coast over the past 20 years, the report card said, a result of high shark bite mortality — and the loss of their favorite kelp habitat in the Northern California region.

“The possibility of seeing otters once again throughout all of California has inspired a vision of statewide recovery,” the report card said. “Because otters help maintain kelp ecosystems by holding urchins in check, any statewide recovery of otters that can be achieved may facilitate statewide recovery of kelp ecosystems.”

Though the report card currently only contains information on about 30 species, aquarium officials say they are hoping to add to that list over the coming years as additional data becomes available.

“In this report card, we looked at data starting in 1999 through 2024,” Dean said, “and not all species have that.”

One species not included in the report card because there wasn’t enough long-term data about its population rates, Dean said, is the leopard shark.

“That’s a pretty common species here in Southern California,” Dean said, “and so it would be wonderful if there were monitoring initiatives that would allow for that kind of species to be included in the future. There are plenty of other species that we could include.”

The aquarium’s report card, though, does feature information about ongoing conservation and species restoration initiatives.

A key goal of the report, Dean said, is to get the community more involved in science — and engaging with their local ecosystems.

“You don’t have to be involved because you have a Ph.D. in fishery science; you can be involved because you care about what’s happening at Long Beach,” Dean said. “We really want the community to feel connected to the ocean and empowered that they can take actions that would sustain those populations in the future.”

There are plenty of ways to help, Dean said, ranging from participating in beach clean-ups to habitat restoration initiatives and taking care not to disturb wildlife when in nature.

To read the Marine Species Report Card and find out more about how to help, go to pacific.to/msrc.