World Oceans Day at Primorsky Aquarium
On Wednesday, June 8, the Primorsky Aquarium celebrated World Oceans Day, a global event to raise awareness on the essential role our oceans play in our lives.
The oceans are the cradle of life and the most important and largest part of the biosphere, due to which the Earth is called a blue planet. Residents of coastal cities, including Vladivostok, typically take the sea for granted and are often not mindful of threats the marine habitats are facing today. Unfortunately, the beauty of these large expanses of water are far more fragile than we used to think.
In commemoration of World Oceans Day, the Primorsky Aquarium held a special program to draw the public’s attention to human responsibility for the natural environment and to the measures everyone can take to protect it. During the celebration, visitors had the opportunity to learn about current challenges confronting biologists and ecologists, create a greeting card with an ocean theme and participate in a Pirate’s Treasure Hunt.
For several hours the Aquarium’s exhibits housed five learning stations ̶ Tropical Seas, Oil Slick, Pacific Debris, River Adventures and Arctic Wildlife ̶ that focused on issues such as coral bleaching, impacts on the marine environment from spilled oil and petroleum products, plastic pollution in the oceans and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, barriers to fish migration, life of Arctic marine species and ice melting.
Those who attended an art workshop called Sea Critter Card could make a pop-up greeting card featuring animals of tropical seas, temperate kelp forests, or cold Arctic waters. Participants in the Pirate’s Treasure Hunt, which took place in the Promenade area of the Aquarium grounds, tried to guess the word of the day, using clues from a treasure map they received at the information desk.
The World Oceans Day observance also included an award ceremony for the winners of this year’s Sea Reflection creativity contest. Their works can be seen on the contest’s Web site.