New centre ground breaking ceremony takes place

Transcription

1 On June 11, dignitaries, special guests, media and Huntsman staff attended a brief ceremony to mark the beginning of construction for the new Discovery Centre. Federal, provincial and municipal representatives put shovels in the ground in front of the site after speeches were made in the temporary aquarium. Around 80 people attended the event. The Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue, Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway; the Honourable Greg Thompson, the Honourable Rick Doucet, Minister of Fisheries; and John Craig, Mayor of St. Andrews, joined HMSC Executive Director Bill Robertson in the sod turning ceremony for the new Discovery Centre. New centre ground breaking ceremony takes place A ground breaking ceremony for the new Discovery Centre took place June 11 at the Huntsman. Left to right are St. Andrews Mayor, John Craig, Minister Keith Ashfield, Dr. John Anderson, Minister Rick Doucet and Greg Thompson MP. Construction on the site of the new Discovery Centre has already started. Projects funded under the Community Adjustment Fund (CAF) have positive impacts on our communities, said Minister Ashfield. The new Discovery Centre project at Huntsman Marine Science Centre will create employment opportunities during the construction phase while increasing economic development activity and improving tourism infrastructure for the Charlotte region for years to come. Continued on page 2 Volcano can t stop PRIMER You d think that a volcanic eruption in Iceland would have little impact on the Huntsman but it almost caused the cancellation of the popular PRIMER course, which is held annually in late April. For attendees flying in from such destinations as Alaska and the Northwest Territories, the huge ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano that spread over Europe wasn t an issue but for the lecturer from southwest England presenting the course, who couldn t get out of the country due to all of the cancelled flights it became a major hurdle. Fortunately, thanks to the internet, Dr. Gerhard Pohle, who coordinates the course for the Huntsman, was able to make it all happen through the wonders of technology, with the fourhour time difference to the UK having little impact. 1

2 The Huntsman s first event of the year was the Earth Day beach clean-up, held at the Bar Road in St. Andrews on Saturday, April 17. Over 100 people helped, and collected four truckloads of garbage in just three hours. Ground breaking ceremony Continued from page 1 Today's event is another milestone for this important project for St. Andrews and Charlotte County, said Doucet, on behalf of Business New Brunswick s Victor Boudreau, who is also minister responsible for the Regional Development Corporation. Investing in this important tourism and educational project will create another opportunity for residents and visitors to experience, Doucet added. Today we are seeing more positive results of a lot of hard work as we begin the next phase of the Discovery Centre, said Bill Robertson, Executive Director of the Huntsman. The Government of Canada, through the Community Adjustment Fund, and the Province of New Brunswick each announced an investment of $2.5 million in the project on October 16, The Huntsman is contributing $3 million toward the $8 million project, $2 million of which is being raised through the Seal the Deal campaign. ACOA administers the CAF, an initiative contained in the Government of Canada's Economic Action Plan, in the Atlantic region. A temporary aquarium on the lower campus opened May 22 in time for the Victoria Day weekend, with hundreds of visitors coming to see the new temporary facility and learn about plans for the new Discovery Centre. Snorkel and Loki, the harbour seals, arrived the day before opening, but were still feeding well. Here, summer student Meghan Colpitts assists with the feeding. The Huntsman s Seal the Deal campaign grew by $30,000 thanks to a donation from Scotiabank. Seen here with chair of the board of directors Dr. Fred Whoriskey, left, is St. Andrews Scotiabank Manager, Andrew Hamilton. 2

3 Rebecca Milne (in centre of photo), the ARC's previous research technician who now is undertaking graduate studies at the Marine Research Institute of the University of Cape Town, in South Africa, ( re.uct.ac.za/students at the institute/masters students/), was recently awarded a prestigious fellowship from the New Brunswick O'Brien Foundation ( index.html). The Foundation has awarded fellowships over the last 35 years to students, scholars, and artists wishing to pursue postgraduate study and research; only three or four of these fellowships have been awarded per year over the last decade. Congratulations to Rebecca! The first annual Exploratorium Interactive Kids Fair was held April 17 at Harbour Station in Saint John. Organized by the Touchstone Community School, around 6,000 people attended so many that people had to be turned away from the event. The Huntsman s touch pool was one of the highlights, with a long line up of children waiting to have an opportunity to see and hold sea stars, crabs and other creatures from the Bay of Fundy. Visiting Fellowships at the Huntsman Applications are invited for Visiting Fellowships at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre. InDepth is published quarterly by the Huntsman Marine Science Centre. Huntsman Marine Science Centre 1 Lower Campus Road St. Andrews by-the-sea, NB E5B 2L7 Canada Fax: huntsman@huntsmanmarine.ca The goal of this program is to bring scientists to St. Andrews to take advantage of collaborative research opportunities in the local community. Awarded funds must be spent at the Huntsman. Applications should include a CV, brief outline of proposed research (including names of local collaborators) and budget. The maximum cash award will be $3,000, but may be increased through reductions in billable on site expenses. For more information, or to apply, contact the vice chair of the research committee, Dr. Tillmann Benfey, c/o the Huntsman, at huntsman@huntsmanmarine.ca 3

4 Around the Huntsman... A group of high school students from Spirit River, Alberta, on an exchange program in Fredericton for a week, visited the Huntsman in April to check out some of the creatures that live on the east coast. They were most impressed by the sturgeon, and the opportunity to touch some of the sea stars and crabs. The site for the temporary aquarium was worked on in April in preparation for opening May 22. To prepare for the July 1 parade in St. Andrews, a group of staff has decided to get together and create some Bay of Fundy related costumes. Here, a scallop is modeled by Muriel Jarvis. A cut out panel at the aquarium proved too hard to resist for this group of students from Hartland Elementary School, as they lined up to have their pictures taken even though the painting created by Janie Jones with assistance from other staff wasn t quite finished! The completed board is now a popular addition at the aquarium. A puppet show, A School Day in Passamaquoddy, written for Sunbury Shores, is being performed for the first time at the Huntsman aquarium this summer. The puppets, created by the makers of Fraggle Rock, are on loan to the Huntsman for the summer. Here, Janie Jones works the puppet Professor Huntsman, while Vanessa McKnight Whitford takes the part of Prof. Inland. Aquarium staff will play all the roles. Somehow. In late April, Hydro poles were installed at the back of the lower campus for the new discovery centre. 4

5 Rock grenadier, Coryphaenoides rupestris (photo by O. Bergstad, MAR/ECO, from Nozères et al. 2010) Surveys of Deep-sea Bottom Fishes on the Nova Scotian Slope By Lou Van Guelpen, Atlantic Reference Centre, Huntsman Marine Science Centre and Ralph Halliday, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS The Canadian fishing industry in the early 1990s wanted to explore potential new commercial species in deep waters. Two joint industry-government exploratory cruises, in which ARC staff played key roles in planning, shipboard supervision, and specimen processing, were launched in November 1994 and March The objective was to characterize the bottom fish community in the m depth zone. The 43 m commercial fishing trawler Cape Chidley was chosen because of its capability to trawl such deep waters. The gear employed was a commercial Engel high-lift bottom trawl with a 51.8 m footrope. Catch rates generally were higher in the more shallow depths than in deeper water. Approximately 39,000 fishes in 82 species were caught. The black dogfish, Centroscyllium fabricii, and the rock grenadier, Coryphaenoides rupestris, comprised over half the catch. Twenty-four of the species captured have not been recorded previously from the Scotian Slope. ARC personnel participated in a 1984 survey of these waters at m depth (Markle et al. 1988) to which Cape Chidley results are being compared. Specimens retained from these cruises are archived at the ARC, with cataloguing having been completed only recently. Final specimen identification issues are being resolved and a manuscript is in preparation. References Markle, D.F., M.J. Dadswell, and R.G. Halliday Demersal fish and decapod crustacean fauna of the upper continental slope off Nova Scotia from LaHave to St. Pierre Banks. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66: Black dogfish, Centroscyllium fabricii (photo from Nozères et al. 2010) Nozères, C., D. Archambault, P.-M. Chouinard, J. Gauthier, R. Miller, E. Parent, P. Schwab, L. Savard, ad J.-D. Dutil Identification guide for marine fishes of the estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence and sampling protocols used during trawl surveys between 2004 and Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and The Huntsman received another donation in June this time another rare lobster. Danny Shaw, manager of the Atlantic Superstore in Oromocto, discovered the lobster, and decided to donate it to the Huntsman. He visited the Huntsman along with his daughters, Jessica and Jillian, left, who were both happy to see the lobster that store employees named Wilburt, in his new home. 5

6 First annual Seafood Festival includes Huntsman activities Last year, the Huntsman celebrated World Ocean Day with a whole range of events at the aquarium. This year, there were less activities, as the Huntsman combined with the first annual Seafood Festival to present events around the entire town for visitors. The Seafood Festival, which spanned several days, and was split into industry and public sections, proved to be a big success, and there were many visitors to the Huntsman (including a family from the Ukraine) to enjoy seal feedings, a lobster presentation, a free barbecue, temporary marine tattoos and Ocean Discovery boat rides. Several Huntsman staff members participated on various festival committees in the months preceding the events. Filming at the Huntsman The first annual St. Andrews Seafood Festival took place in June, with the Huntsman playing an important role. Industry and public events were held, and, at the Fairmont Algonquin, a morning of presentations on the seafood industry was made, with Huntsman executive director Bill Robertson (front row, second from right), making a presentation on the role of the Huntsman in research and education. One of the activities during a packed Saturday at the aquarium during the festival was the creation of temporary marine related tattoos, left, at the Huntsman during the World Ocean Day events. Janie Jones, and volunteer Chelsie Archibald were busy all day painting sturgeon, sea stars, sharks, jellyfish and more. Fiona, the lobster that arrived at the aquarium last spring from Massachusetts, hit the news again in May when a follow up feature was aired on the Cape Cod Times CapeCast. Prior to the St. Andrews Seafood Festival in June, the Food Network did some filming on the Huntsman s research vessel, the Fundy Spray, and also filmed a segment in the temporary aquarium, as a part of a feature on the Rossmount Inn. Rebecca Goreham, the ARC s newest Laboratory/ Field Technician. 6