19 July 2007

 

 

‘SEAS AROUND US’ PROJECT ATTRACTS LARGE CROWD

 

 

Around 300 people were drawn to the wet room area of the NAFC Marine Centre last Friday afternoon (13 July) for the last chance this year to see, up close, sea creatures from the seas around Shetland.  The initiative is part of the Centre’s ‘Seas Around Us’ pilot project, which has been established to give local school children an appreciation of life in the seas around the islands. Staff, who were on hand to answer questions and help visitors pick up some species, were overwhelmed with the success of the open afternoon and the interest in the project.

 

The ‘Seas Around Us’ pilot initiative was launched in May and has seen the NAFC Marine Centre liaising with local schools to host escorted group tours of its wet room area.  Since the first school tour, 469 children have visited in a total of 22 hosted trips.

 

A public open day was held earlier in the year that was so popular the Centre was keen to host this follow up event to encourage the pupils who have already enjoyed the useful learning experience to bring along their parents.

 

Caroline Hepburn is the NAFC Centre’s liaison officer and was part of the team responsible for organising Friday’s event.  She said: “We were delighted at the number of people attracted to our wet room area.  Visitors were able to see the touchy-feely tanks and glass aquariums containing sea cucumber, octopus, cuttlefish, an albino sea urchin, newly hatched dogfish in their mermaid’s purse, cling fish, spider crabs, a variety of starfish and three types of wrasse.

 

“They were also able to view the deep tanks which contain catfish, conger eel, dogfish, spurdog, tope, turbot, brill, cod and mermaid’s purse of skate.

“We have a fantastic educational resource here and it’s a fun experience for children and adults.  What we’ve found is that a visit can be followed up with projects on the seashore and can spark a real interest in exactly what can be found just off the coast of Shetland.  If the project is extended to next year, we will continue to have these open days in the future and would encourage everyone to come along.”

 

Further information from:

 

Caroline Hepburn, NAFC Marine Centre, tel 01595 772216, email or visit www.nafc.ac.uk

Or, Louise Rosie, Shaw Marketing and Design Ltd, tel 01595 692465 or email