The Vancouver Aquarium's AquaVan will return to the Quatse Salmon Stewardship Centre this weekend.
The mobile classroom, presented by BC Hydro, is currently on a three-week tour of Vancouver Island schools, and will come to the North Island for its only community event this Saturday.
The AquaVan, a mobile aquarium, allows visitors to get hands-on with a variety of invertebrates, including sea urchins, sea anemones, crabs, sea snails and sea stars, and aims to foster awareness of the need to protect and conserve our aquatic environments.
“These unique programs represent an important part of the Aquarium’s mission to educate and inspire everyone to become responsible caretakers of the earth,” says Jonathan Hultquist, manager of Curriculum Programs at the Vancouver Aquarium.
The Aquavan offers a variety of programs and displays, from those aimed at introducing primary school children to ocean creatures up to educating high school teachers on marine invertebrate classification. The organizers hope that by offering interaction with marine life they can help demonstrate the connections between people and the natural environment.
The AquaVan has been in operation since 1994 and it's award-winning programs have been experienced by over 400,000 students and community members since its inception. This year, the AquaVan's tour is expected to draw in the region of 1,600 visitors during it's Island-wide tour.
It will return to the Quatse Salmon Centre Oct. 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Regular centre admission prices apply, with all proceeds going to fund salmon conservation initiatives as well as community educational programs and events.
For more information on the AquaVan program go to www.vanaqua.org and for more on the Quatse Centre go to www.thesalmoncentre.org.