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Canada Post Announces an Upcoming Vancouver Aquarium Issue |
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On July 5, Canada Post announced its lineup of commemoratives for 2006. Included for next June will be a domestic rate commemorative stamp to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vancouver Aquarium. The Vancouver Public Aquarium Association was formed in 1950 and worked toward the building of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center, which opened to the public on June 15, 1956. Since then, the Aquarium has grown to become the largest in Canada and one of the 5 largest in North America. |
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| One of Vancouver's leading tourist attractions, it also has a large local membership base and attracted over 875,000 visitors last year. It is a non-profit, self-supporting association dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation spread over 90,00 square feet of area containing 9.5 million liters (2.5 million US gallons) in 166 aquatic displays.
Education plays a large part of the work of the Aquarium and it is often filled with the shrieks and screams of surprise and wonder from groups of school children. Not to mention adults. There is an AquaVan, a mobile classroom visiting communities throughout BC and Alberta. AquaSchool lets teachers of grades 4-7 move their classrooms into the facility for a week of hands-on learning. Over 50,000 students a year immerse themselves in the Wet Lab, sleepovers and beach walks in Canada's largest outdoor classroom. There is even an ESL Certificate Program in Marine Biology for non-English speaking students wanting to improve both their science and English skills. Most of the galleries focus on the local Pacific waters, renowned around the world as having some of the most exciting scuba diving experiences, and here you can see why. |
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| There is also an Arctic gallery with a large Beluga whale habitat, a Tropic Zone with a wrap-around shark habitat and an Amazon Rainforest Pavilion complete with jungle!
Outside, there is a newly developed salmon stream project, now into its second year of releasing salmon fry into Burrard Inlet via a stream starting at the Aquarium. In the last two more years, the first adults have returned. |
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| Vancouver Aquarium has also been operating a marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation operation since 1960, and last year, it received funding from the Federal Government that allowed it to double the size of the facility. More than 70 animals a year have been rescued, cared for and returned to the wild, mostly young seals, but also otters and even Springer, an orphaned Killer Whale.
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 This year, the entire east side of the Aquarium complex, containing all the administrative offices was demolished to make way for a new wing which will house the Discovery Education Centre.
It will contain a public area for new displays and educational programs, wet labs for the study of intertidal invertebrates, classrooms, a training centre and an environmental newsroom and will be built to the latest environmental standards. The ocean is where all life on Earth began. Being able to see what is normally hidden from us expands our frame of reference and our own possibilities. The Vancouver Aquarium and Marine Science Centre has been a major force for the past 50 years in informing us all of the life on 70% of the planet. The release of the new stamp will come shortly before the opening of the new Discovery Education Centre and will be a fitting trubute to a beloved Vancouver institution. Buy it here. |
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Newsletter #69 |
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