Local aquarium releases creatures back into the sea
It was release day for the creatures of the Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium Saturday. The aquarium, which opened this summer, displayed a collection of sea life found in the local waters. With the closing of the aquarium for the season, the animals were released back into the ocean.
Melanie Knight, founder and executive director of the aquarium, said about 200 people showed up at St. Philip’s Beach Saturday to help and to watch the animals being released. “It was an amazing day,” she said. The practice of releasing the marine specimens back into the sea isn’t common. Knight had to get a Department of Fisheries and Oceans permit to allow her and the other aquarium workers to release the animals back into the areas where they were collected.
“Most aquariums are quite large and they’re year round so they want to keep their collection,” she said.
Knight also said that larger aquariums have species from over a large geographical area, and the species would have to be released back to the area from which they came to avoid the possibility of the animals not surviving or competing with naturally occurring species.
According to Knight, it also helps visitors to the aquarium build a healthy respect for the animals.
“The act of releasing the animals really does encourage our visitors to handle the animals more gently because they know that they’re not here for a long time and that they are going back to the ocean.”
Knight describes the ocean as a great blue blanket with tons of life under it that people can’t usually see. Including members of the public in the animal release day helps give people insight and appreciation into what’s actually happening underneath the waves, she said.
A pair of blue lobsters weren’t released back into the wild, but will spend the winter at the Ocean Sciences Centre until the aquarium opens again the spring.
“(They’re) just so rare and so special,” Knight said.
The aquarium will reopen June 8. A couple of weeks beforehand, animals from the local waters will again be collected and put on display in the aquarium.