Knowing the sea: the Primorsky Aquarium turns 3
The Primorsky Aquarium means almost 1,500,000 people representing 40 countries that attended the scientific and educational center over the first 3 years of its work. It should be remembered that President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime-Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe were the first visitors to the Aquarium on September 3, 2016.
The Primorsky Aquarium means some 150 tanks housing more than 10,000 marine and freshwater animals. It means terrariums with numerous inhabitants of the Tropical Rain Forest exhibit and a Dolphinarium where marine mammals are trained and kept. The Aquarium’s collection incorporating inhabitants of all oceans and climatic regions of the world is constantly enriched and enhanced. Recent newcomers to Russky Island include Australian corals and Amur catfish, tiny poison dart frogs and large marine predators: whitetip reef and zebra sharks.
The Primorsky Aquarium means hundreds of living beings who have come to life due to professional breeding programs. The biologists of the scientific and educational center successfully cultivate jelly fish, amphibians, bony and cartilaginous fishes. This past spring Jupiter - the world’s first spotted seal conceived, gestated, born and reared in captivity – was born at the Aquarium’s marine mammal research facility.
The Primorsky Aquarium means science. In 2019 the first Russian shared equipment facility for research in marine biology has been established at the Aquarium. It has the same name as the scientific and educational center – “Primorsky Aquarium” - and is headed by Inessa Diuizen, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Holder of Habilitation degree in Medicine. The “Primorsky Aquarium” SEF has become a key venue for scientific experiments in the field of underwater bioacoustics.
The Primorsky Aquarium means unique educational projects. Every Wednesday of the academic year, participants in the Educational Environment project - preschool and school children as well as university students –- become complete masters of the giant shell on Russky Island. Within the 3-year period of the project implementation, nearly 30,000 children attended free classes at the Primorsky Aquarium. The environmental biology studio “Belyok” (belyok is the Russian name for a white-coat baby seal) has developed into a large-scale project, Growing up at the Aquarium, which will consist of 5 stages this school year. The first stage is designed for 6-year-olds; after they get older and more experienced, the children become members of an art studio called «Sea Guardians”. The third stage, “Ichthyology Club”, is aimed at children aged 10-11, the «Todarodes» group will include boys and girls of 12 to 13 years of age, while the “Aqua Laboratory” waits for youngsters between the ages of 14-17 years old who are truly passionate about marine biology.
The Primorsky Aquarium is a well-recognized marine museum, which is a member of the “Marine Heritage: Explore and Sustain” Association and interacts with the Museum of the World Ocean as well as cooperates with the Russian Geographical Society.
“The Primorsky Aquarium is a living organism who grows, gains professional expertise and shapes new development directions,” says Sergey Loginov, Director of the Scientific and Educational Center.
Quotes about the Primorsky Aquarium:
“I have been to a wide range of Aquariums – in this country and abroad – but the one I saw in Vladivostok is amazing in its size and scope”
Denis Egorov, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Nizhny Novgorod region
“The Aquarium in Vladivostok is a highly advanced educational center.”
Svetlana Semenova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Irkutsk region
“The Primorsky Aquarium is a unique state-of-the-art complex, and this is a highly significant project for Primorye, which is a center of Far Eastern Russia. The facility features organisms representing the wildlife of the Far East, and since it is a world-class center, I would advise all foreign tourists to visit this Aquarium to witness the vibrant colours and richness of the region”
Mr. D. Bala Venkatesh Varma, Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation
“There is plenty of educational information available here – you can trace the entire evolution of life on Earth”
Sugimura Shuji, Japanese newspaper editor
“The Primorsky Aquarium is an entirely unique facility located in this country. It is not an entertaining hub but a national-level scientific and educational center. Now humankind is beginning to understand that having explored the near space and aspired to lunar mineral resources, it knows very little of the world oceans. Development of biological and mineral resources in deep-sea areas is a science and technology objective of high priority. The fact that the Aquarium trains new generations of scientists to attain this objective is very important. The knowledge, which school children, students and other visitors of various ages acquire here, is not only interesting but also really insightful and, in many ways, mysterious.”
Alexander Sergeyev, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences