The animals that called the Discovery Passage Aquarium home for the summer are back in their natural habitats.
The aquarium held its second release day on Saturday and with the help of community members and visitors, returned the animals to the Discovery Passage.
“We bring animals into the aquarium for a little vacation,” Aquarium Manager Ricky Belanger told the Mirror ahead of the first release day on Sept. 2. “They go back out into the ocean and they just resume their natural life cycle if it were to have been paused for the time they were in the aquarium.”
Volunteers gathered at the entrance of the aquarium off Discovery Fishing Pier and transported the critters in their bucket to the pier, the beach or the fishing wharf, where aquarium staff and knowledgeable volunteers helped them to safely release the animals back into the water.
The goal is to put the critters back where they were found, Brianna Marcoux, an educator with the aquarium’s Explorer Lab told the Mirror last week. “So we’re disrupting them as little as possible.”
The aquarium celebrated its eighth anniversary this year.
While the public aquarium is now closed for the season, the Explorer Lab will remain open into the fall for school programs. More information can be found at www.discoverypassageaquarium.ca/explorer-lab.
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