Ucluelet Aquarium Society

Photo Update from the JCP Crew

2012-02-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

There have been many exciting developments with the JCP crew, as the aquarium fir tank stands come together in all their glory with assembly and finishing. As we have been documenting this progress carefully, we thought a photo collection of the details (along with some colour commentary) would be appropriate.

As previously mentioned, we decided to incorporate lap joints and 12" lag bolts into the design for some of the tank stands. These "skookum" stands will be supporting some of the largest aquarium tanks in the finished facility.

Seamus and Jeff carefully router out lap joints for the 6x6 stands. These heavy-duty stands will be supporting the larger acrylic tanks.

A close-up shot of the high-speed router in action!

Once the lap joints were completed, the 6x6 tank stands were ready for assembling and finishing. We used several coats of a thin penetrating epoxy, to ensure that these stands remain strong and beautiful in the damp aquarium environment for many years to come!

An array of beautiful assembled, epoxied, and completed stands built with 6x6 fir

Diana's favourite stand! A prime example of some of the beautiful wood we had the opportunity to work with

(thanks, Maggie Brown!)

With the 6x6 stands completed, our crew was free to tackle the smaller touch tank stands. A different, more kid-friendly

design was crafted for these interactive tanks.

Two lovely flowers arise in the bright dawn, from tall stacks of beautifully crafted touch tank skirts

Getting a close-up look at the critters in the touch tank, as well as our first completed touch tank stand!

Diana & Mia demonstrating the excitement of visiting a touch tank at the new Ucluelet Aquarium

And finally, after all the hard work, a much-needed rest...

The aquarium's founder Phillip does not approve of Seamus taking a time-out on one of the larger 6-legged stands. He does, however, believe that safety comes first!

What you can't see from the outside...

2012-01-28T15:14:00.000-08:00

The interior of the aquarium, still hidden from the general public, is rolling along towards completion. Beautiful beams, donated by Iisaak, surround the Great Tide Pool. This centre tank will hold schooling fishes and tidepool species.

The Great Tidepool, Casey at work,

and the glowing windows out to the harbour

To the right, allow the imagination to fill the broad space by the front windows with rows of touch tanks. With any luck, future visitors may glance up from these tanks to view the rare sight some of the crew were privy to last week. A pod of killer whales swimming through the bay. No photographic proof is available for this claim, but trust us, it happened. (really). The aquarium currently feels as if we were building a whale from the inside out. Beams and rafters enclose the space like a giant ribcage. Electricians lace the neurons of electrical wire through and around the framework; the plumbing spreads into the future sites of displays, and into the belly of the building, where rows of filters and pumps will pulse cold life into glass cases.

The basement: a lone chair and two rows of sand-filters

From the back of the building, the Great Tide Pool to the left, the view will one day be an art piece displaying the names of our sponsors. The upstairs will be the aquarium's very first on-site office. Ask staff members what this means to them. Be prepared for wide grins and unlimited excitement.

The view towards the upstairs mezzanine (future office) and front desk.

Aquarium Construction Update (January 5th)

2012-01-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

The roof is on, sides are almost complete, and the structure is beginning to take shape

Precision, Salvation, and Mucking Around

2011-11-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

The JCP crew has been hard at work lately, continuing construction on the wooden tank stands for the new aquarium. This has required a great deal of precision, with sub-millimeter measurements and careful clamping being the name of the game. We had the opportunity to rent a 16-inch beam saw for some of the most recent cuts, which made for pretty fun work! The finished product will be tank stands with lap-joints, a very strong and stable structural choice.

An action shot of Seamus with the 16-inch beam saw

The elaborate clamping setup

Another objective for the crew has been to collect substrate for use in the new aquarium, such as sand, rocks, and shells. This involved trips down to Big Beach, where there is an abundance of ideal substrate. We even lucked out with some gorgeous sunny days, which made hauling around heavy bins infinitely more pleasant!

Jeff, Seamus, and Diana collecting substrate on Big Beach

The mini-aquarium has entered into hibernation mode, now that the big release day has come and gone. We have been hard at work emptying and scrubbing the old tanks. When siphoning out the used water, it is always a fun challenge trying to avoid a mouthful of murky waste water – a distasteful experience as I’m sure you can imagine! Probably the most joy came from discovering little crabs, clams, fishes, and other creatures that were still hiding at the bottoms of the tanks (all of whom were released, of course). The old aquarium materials and merchandise are being packed up, ready for re-use at their deluxe accommodations in the new aquarium building!

However, a few tenants still remain in the mini-aquarium. Our little red octopus female continues to care for her many eggs, which are scheduled to hatch any day now. Also, three fascinating and unidentified fishing anemones are being kept in their tanks in the hopes that with expert consultation, we may be able to identify these mystery specimens. We will keep you updated as much as possible on the births and potential discoveries of these remaining animals!

Diana is the newest member on the JCP team. She has been living in the area for 3 years, working as a naturalist on whale watching boats. Diana is excited to help contribute to the creation of what is sure to be a world-class aquarium facility.

High School Wood Working

2011-10-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

Jeff and Seamus using the planer.

Back to High School, well kind of... John Millar the shop teacher from Ucluelet Secondary School very kindly donated his after school hours to help out the Aquarium Society.

Here is Mr. Miller jointing a piece for us.

We worked together to joint and plane our lumber for the future tank supports. We think they turned out beautifully!

Thanks John! We couldn't have done it without you. Hahahaha. Here is a real picture of the results!

The forest comes to us....

2011-09-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

Our construction crew has spent the last couple weeks installing beams on the developing structure of our new building. Walking past the site these past few days conjures images of old forest.

The Garbage derby wrapped up last weekend with Jamie's Whaling station taking home the trophy for most garbage collected by a business. Jesse Vedova, one of Jamie's' drivers, towed in a freezer and filled it with collected garbage, fishing floats and other oceanic debris. Matt Harbidge and Kane Edwards collected together to bring home the individual prize. These two drove out to a remote beach in the sound where dogwalkers, runners and beach combers can't add their efforts to keeping it clean. Thank you so much for your efforts!

Thanks also to Zoe Jewell, and Jordan Odney for your help, and to Garth Grimes, Seamus Little, Jason Hasz and Keanna Hasz for your efforts!!!

JCP crew goes to Vancouver Aquarium

2011-09-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

We had three days of fun and useful information, half of the time for travel and the other half for inspiration at the Vancouver Aquarium. We started off our morning at Vanaqua with an orientation and behind the scenes look of the facility led by Danny Kent, Curator of B.C. Waters. We were all amazed by the complexities of the plumbing systems. None of us are plumbers by trade so looking at the plumbing of a large aquarium was a lot to take in.

We asked to meet with the carpentry department to see if they had any suggestions that may be useful in building and finishing our supports properly. Danny directed us down to the depths of the basement where the wood shop is located. . We were greeted by Ken Sulivan (Ken on the right) head of the carpentry department. He gave us some great suggestions on what type of leveling feet they have found work well on the bases of the tanks.

Ken showing us some hardware that they have used for leveling feet

The afternoon was spent walking around the galleries of the aquarium. The Vancouver Aquarium is a very amazing place. Here are some of the rad specimens we got to check out!

Bonus points to who can tell us the name of this tropical sea creature!

Daisy the Porpoise

Day two at Van Aqua was spent with Bryan Kent. He showed us on the computer the steps taken to go through to make fake rock that looks real. Basically Bryan started with a scaled down box and made the rock formation he was looking for out of plasticine. He then takes that plan to a company that specializes in artificial rock work to build it for him. Here are the before and after shots.

Before with Plastisine model

After in finished concrete display immediately after rock work was complete

Bryan also took us around for some more behind the scenes look at displays.

Bryan, Jeff and Jonnie checking out the display tank

We had the opportunity to meet with the painter of the Vancouver Aquarium to pick his brain on finishing products that work well in wet environments.

After spending time at the Vancouver Aquarium we are better equipped to create durable wooden structures, and really excited to contribute to the construction of another great aquarium!

2011 JCP Tinkerers

2011-09-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

* * * NEWS FLASH * * *

The brainy research squad have been working hard designing the tank stands for the new Aquarium. This handsome crew have been performing diligent calculations to figure out the complex design criteria for the containment systems. The new tank stands will be a timber- frame structure, materials chosen for the tank supports is fir. Fir is a strong and beautiful species and should last for years to come.
The construction will be a lap joint with hardwood doweling to add strength and rigidity. The choice of hardwood doweling is there to keep the stands free of materials that will deteriorate or rust.

As you can see the crew is still working hard to solve the engineering details of our finalized designs.

Having calculated the precise dimensions, volumes and densities of the tanks, substrate and fish the crew was able to accurately estimate the design weights for each display tank.

* * * Stay tuned for more NEWS to come! * * *

2011-08-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hello out there!

So the JCP crew were out collecting some substrate the other day and spotted a peculiar object on the horizon. We decided to go check it out. As we came closer we were struck by a bizarre species that none of us recognized. Luckily Jeff brought his pocket guide book of the Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest. Under the 'newly discovered species' section we were able to identify it as 'The Great Pacific Stolked-On-The-Construction-Of-The-New-Aquarium Fish'. We considered using the specimen as crab bait but soon discovered it was still alive! We rushed it to our shop on 1980 Harbor Crescent, hosed it off, threw it a hammer and the creature starting working! It was then that we knew we had our fourth member.

We are happy to have Roger Harvey complete our crew for the JCP!

Now that we have a full crew we thought it would be fun to do a little Bio on each of us.

Jeff Geddes' Bio

Before I say a little about myself I would like to thank Ucluelet and the Far West Coast for providing me with everything I need; Great people, good surf, a solid employer and I'm sure much more to come! I am happy to be out here exploring, surfing and contributing to the very awesome new Ucluelet Aquarium

project. I look forward to learning a lot about the ecosystem and local marine life from the other people involved with the aquarium and the knowledgeable locals! I am quite new and quite friendly, so say 'hi' if you see me.

Roger Hervey's Bio

From west Ucluelet born and raised, on the shoreline is where i spent most of my days. Chillin out, maxin, relaxin all cool, playin road hockey outside of the school, until a couple of guys who were up to some good started building an aquarium in my neighborhood. I made a couple of calls and said that i cared, they said I'll be working with the dry team to build it up square. I whistled for a boat and when it came near the registration said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I'd say that this project is rare, but I know i won't regret it, no question I'm there. I pulled up to the dock about 7 or 8 and I yelled to the skipper "Ahoy smell ya later!" Looked at the work site I was finally there to aid in the construction of a new marine lair.

Johnny Harkins' Bio

I am thrilled to be a part of the dry team for the Ucluelet Aquarium.
The Ukee Aquarium is a great project and the town will benefit for years to come.
Having worked for almost twenty years in the film industry, and being a carpenter too..
I hope my skills will help the best team I have ever worked with accomplish something great.

Seamus Littles' Bio

As some of you may know I worked on the 'Harbor Clean Up Crew' from last winters Job Creation Program (JCP). It was an extremely successful project and happened to be one of the funnest projects I have ever worked on.
Because of my involvement in the last JCP I was recruited to run the up and coming JCP which is where we are at now. This project predominantly entails building stands out of wood for all of the acrylic tanks that will be in the new aquarium. I am so stolked to have such a positive crew to work with!

2011 tank stand builders and dry team.

2011-07-20T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hi folks! Being involved with the construction of the new Ucluelet Aquarium is very exciting and unique. From now until the end of January 2012 Seamus Little (middle of photo), John Harkin (left of photo), Jeffrey Geddes (right of photo) and Bailey the dog will be working as 'the dry team'. These types of jobs include building tank supports out of wood, collecting a variety of local shells, bone, rocks and substrate from the surrounding waters, designing the interior layout of tanks and displays, helping with the tank plumbing, lighting etc. and helping out around the aquarium job site. We are working as part of a Job Creation Partnership grant from the Ministry of Housing and Social Services.

Here are some of the exciting projects we have been getting up to so far:

Collecting whale bones for future display in the new aquarium. Special thanks to Jane Hunt from Westerly Winds Farm for donating 4 whale vertebrae. The vertebrae came from the same whale as this awesome skull that Johnny is standing beside.

Built a mock up floor and tank stand to the same dimensions as the future aquarium. We did this to help figure out our feed and return lines from the floor to the tanks.

Cut, sanded and primed sea creature shapes out of thin plywood with Elgin Ambrose from Art Access. These cool sea creatures were then painted by local kids and adults and put up on the construction fence to bring some life to the future aquarium worksite.

Here Seamus is seen cutting and wiring the cutouts.

Working at the aquarium job site stripping concrete forms, stacking wood, moving rocks and working with geotextile.

We are all learning lots having a blast with this project so far! Looking forward to Ukee Days this weekend and checking out the Aquarium Octopus float that will be in the parade. Come and have some fun at Ukee Days!

Some new specie, and new building construction...

2011-07-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome summer 2011!

After a long winter, we are finally getting some sunny days.

Construction of our new building is coming along. We are now almost out of the intertidal zone!

A new little red octopus is in our midst, along with some deep sea Tanner crabs and Fragile Pink urchins. The Tanner crabs and Fragile Pink Urchins are truly deep sea species, and can live as far down as 2km. While a deep sea fish might react badly to pressure changes, the crabs can release gasses (which expand as you head towards shallower waters) through its flexible joints.

Unlike our very large Giant Pacific Octopus, the little red will reach a maximum weight of around 3lbs (GPOs often reach 150lbs). It resides now in the back of the aquarium, where it has a small den in the centre of its new home, and hunts the tasty shore crabs scurrying around its tank.

Ukee Days approaches! come out for the Saturday parade! We have a new (and very large) float to surprise everyone with...

Garbage, Construction and Box Crabs

2011-05-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring from the Ucluelet Aquarium! We've had some exciting changes take place so far this year. Our new building is finally underway. After 4 years of fundraising, we now have a soundtrack of machinery and construction playing

throughout the aquarium. The little aquarium will still run for this season, closing again in october. When we re-open next year in our new building (projected opening date is set for May Long-Weekend of 2012) we will run year-round.

Our winter JCP crew wrapped up with a display of all the garbage they collected. Weighing 6710KG, plus about 25% which was previously recycled,and stretching out over 100 cubic yards, the massive haul of garbage was too large to be photographed from the ground. Many thanks to our volunteers for all the help, and to the Ministry of Social Development, which made the whole project possible.

We have a brand new box crab which we're very excited about. (Thank you to the crew of the North Islander). There are so many amazing species that we have on the coast, but the Brown Box Crab is truly remarkable. The holes on either side of its claws provide it with fresh water while closed up for protection. It moves with the grace of a tank but is more dextrous than it appears and has avery strong (and painful)grip.

May provided us with some of the lowest tides of the year. Perfect weather and ideal times (early morning right before work) meant many of us ran frolicking down to the intertidal zone to peer at all the creatures not normally accessible to us during low tides.

2011-02-25T12:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the Ucluelet Aquarium,
We hope you are having a great February and looking forward to our March 19th re-opening. Recently, we have completed the Harbour clean-up and are now turning our attention towards removing invasive plant species from selected areas of the harbour. The top priority is the removal of Scotch Broom. An invasive plant on Vancouver Island since 1850. This perennial has been used in the past as a bank stabilizer by the highway department because of its deep root structure and rapid growth. However, it has flourished and become a nusance to many native plants on the Island as it hinders the available light, mositure and nutrients. It is also fast growing and considered a 'prolific seed producer' with up to 18,000 seeds per plant. It is also difficult to ward off and stop its invasive reproduction.
If you are planning on removing broom the general rule of thumb is if the stock is smaller than your pinky finger it can be pulled out of the ground. Otherwise, cut the stock of the plant as low to the ground as possible.
Our efforts have been focused in the Millstream area where we have removed approximately 20,000 of these invasive plants. After the broom has been pulled or chopped we burn the broom as to not spread the broom seeds any further.
We will be monitoring the areas that we have removed the broom from to see how the land rehabilitates.

Gorse

2011-01-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Aquarium lovers!

We are excited to get back to our JCP (Job Creation Program) Harbour Clean up project for 2011!

Despite the colder temperatures in the early mornings we have continued up the frozen harbour. To date we have removed garbage from 2/3 of the intertidal zone and shore line (25 fish totes worth) and we will be continuing our way north into the Millstream area. We can already see our positive affects on the harbour as we occasionally pass over areas that we have already cleaned on our way to new spots.

Of the items we have found, commercial batteries are the most concerning. We have found batteries on all the abandon boats in the Ukee harbour. So far we have found 13 large commercial batteries and many household batteries. These batteries leach cadmium, lead , mercury, copper, zinc, magnese, lithium and potassium which are all hazardous to the environment and human health. Many of these toxins do not break down in the environment and can accumulate in all animals particularly in fish and shell fish. Removing these toxic batteries will improve the health and future generations of the marine life in the Ucluelet harbour.

Most service stations will take and recycle your batteries free of charge! Petro-Canada and Noel Enterprises in Ucluelet will accept all batteries as well as Method Marine in Tofino. We hope that our days of throwing batteries in the ocean are behind us.

We would like to thank The Westerly newspaper for publishing a two page spread on the work we have been doing in the Harbour.(December 16th 2010 newspaper)The Harbour clean up also got a thumbs up in the Times Colonist(Victoria newspaper) for our good work.

2010-11-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

Hey Folks,

Due to threatening letters from George Lucas (creator of Star Wars) we have changed our winter crew name from The Storm Troopers to the Ucluelet Aquarium Harbour keepers lol.

As for business, the days have gotten shorter and the weather a little chillier, making our job a little more challenging but fun nonetheless.

To date we have removed a distance of 7km of garbage from Hyphocus Island to Garbage dumphill; roughly a quarter of the harbour. We have found lots of garbage Everywhere! both in commercial and residential areas equally. As of Nov 19th we have collected 15 commercial fishing totes of a variety of garbage. Of this refuse, we are primarily pulling large chunks of Styrofoam, rope and single use plastic drink bottles. Interesting things we have found are an old glass insulator used formerly on hydro poles, a large brass propeller, a homemade fishing float toy and numerous shoes (who are these people walking around with one shoe!)

Here Seamus is found slacking off waiting for the hockey game to start.

Of the more interesting natural finds, we found a Giant Pacific Octopus beak. This beak may have come from an Octopus more than 20ft long.

In the coming weeks we will be continuing up the Eastern side of the harbour working our way north. Stayed tuned for further updates and progress on our mission to make Ucluelet harbour a cleaner and a more beautiful place to work and play. For more information log onto the Ucluelet
Aquarium Facebook page.

For your viewing pleasure here are some of our trashy photos!

2010-10-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

Our first week as the Storm Troopers!

Hey folks,

Despite the harsh weather, we have been hitting the harbour pretty hard, finding a wide variety of discarded materials and mapping certain areas that are overrun with invasive plant species. A shout out to Josie Osborne of the Raincoast Education Society for putting on a very informative Invasive species work shop; much appreciated!

Biologist Josey Osborne of The Rain Coast Education Society

Last week we started in the Highphocus Inlet and slowly moved our way north using canoes thanks to Judy Gray and Bill Morrison. The canoes have allowed us to access virtually any area on the coast line due to their ability to maneuver in shallow waters. However due to the surprising amount of garbage we decided to make piles along the coastline just above the high tide line to later be collected with a power boat and small skiff. Thanks to Barkley Sound Black Seals Dive Company for the use of their power boat.

As you can imagine the garbage began to pile up quickly once we got it to home base. We then recruited the use of a dozen fish totes to seperate and organize the garbage for recycling or to be reused. Some of the items include car parts, doors, lightbulbs, bottles and cans, a wide variety of plastics and a surprising amount of styrofoam and rope, lighters and pens.

Stay tuned as we will be continuing to work our way up the harbour...

Dirty work but somebody has to do it

2010-10-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Winter 2010 Harbour Clean up Crew

Hello out there Aquarium lovers!! We are currently changing with the season and moving into another phase now that the Ucluelet Aquarium has shut down for the season. First off, thank you to all those who came down for the Oct 16th release day; your help was greatly appreciated.

Now that winter is approaching the Aquarium Society will be continuing its work in the community. The winter team known as the "Ucluelet Harbour Storm Troopers" which consists of Kane Edwards, Seamus Little, Jesse Espezel and Tewas Johnston will be doing a number of projects in and around the Ucluelet harbour such as, removing invasive plant species, removing harmful debris and garbage from the intertidal zone as well as diving and removing discarded garbage from the sub tidal zone. In addition, we will be assisting the Ucluelet First Nations in their on going shell fish studies of the Ucluelet inner harbour!

This project is made possible thanks to the Job Creation Program making the Ucluelet harbour a cleaner and healthier environment.

Team Bio:

Jesse Espezel, Born in Fort McMurray. 1982.

I have been involved with Vancouver Island all my life and finally moved to Ucluelet in 2003 to further my skills as a Carpenter and to enjoy the endless opportunities to get out there and enjoy nature. I have spent a significant amount of time combing the beach and trails with my two dogs, often bringing away a full bag of trash that washes up on shore. Now I have met a great group of like minded people, both from the Ucluelet Aquarium Society and our "Storm Troopers" harbor clean up crew. Together we can really make a difference.

Tewas Johnston

Hello interested folks of the Ucluelet Aquarium Society. My name is Tewas J. I've been fortunate to live in Ucluelet for 5 yrs and counting. I first came to Ucluelet on a recommendation from my uncle who is a carver in Nanaimo. Knowing that I had surfed in High school, he told me that you could catch waves in and around the Tofino/Ucluelet area. After a short visit, I immediately fell in love with the area and its people. I am looking forward to working for the Aquarium Society this winter, as well as the community on a whole. If you see any of us "Storm Troopers" trudging about feel free to say hello and chat us up.....Tewas. J

Seamus Little

Hi there! My name is Seamus. Before ever going to the West Coast of Canada I just knew it was were I wanted to be. There was something that intrigued me about surfing and the ocean ever since I was a little kid. Growing up in Ontario was great. My parents took my sister and I on camping trips in the summers and always got us involved in sports. Well the time came about 3 years ago were it was time to experience the west coast. I packed my little Toyota Corolla, drove strait to Ucluelet and never looked back. My love for the ocean grows the more and more I learn about it. I feel really lucky to be a part of the Aquarium Society and look forward to working with our awesome team. "Go Ucluelet Harbour Storm Troopers"

Kane Edwards

Hello !

I am super excited for this winters harbour project,we have an awesome crew and we are going to make a huge positive impact in the Ucluelet harbour!This project is going to benefit the environment as well as the community.If you see us on the shoreline working hard feel free to come chat us up!

Art Gallery Exibit on Release Day!

2010-10-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Two Artisits - One Community - One Country
After the release visit the community hall. From October 16th - 24th internationally acclaimed canadian artists Ken Kirby and Joan Larson will be displaying works at the Ucluelet Community Centre. There will be chowder and drinks by donation on release day, all benefiting the aquarium. 4 Days till Release!!!

Raise a Reader - Cat in the Hat day

2010-09-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

On Wed. Sept. 29th Raise a Reader day will be visiting the aquarium. The Event starts at the UES library at 10am. At noon activities start around town featuring the Westerly, Re/Max Ucluelet, Wild Heather Books, the Crow's Nest (and us of course!). At 6pm the final event is the Cat in the Hat Movie at the Ucluelet Community Center.

Release Day 2010 - October 16th

2010-09-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

This year's release date has been set for the 16th of October.

Beginning around 10am we'll begin returning all our creatures back to the wild. We're looking for a number of volunteers for the event, if you'd like to help out with the release, please drop by the aquarium or contact Laura 250-266-1640, lgriffith.cochrane@gmail.com. we'll need a few people to help by making hot chocolate, or coffee and around 15 courageous volunteers to help scrub down tanks afterwards.

To all those simply interested in releasing sea stars and shiner perch, stop by anytime after 10. The release will run till the early afternoon, rain jackets are recommended and costumes are encouraged.

A New Arrival

2010-08-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

Frequent visitors to the aquarium might notice something new when they walk in our front doors on their next visit. Last week, Matt Harbidge, from Green World Building Company, donated a new, custom built front desk. Matt constructed the desk himself using salvaged fir and cedar planks. The aquarium staff would like to extend a special thanks to Matt for his continued support to the Ucluelet Aquarium Society.

Where Do Babies Come From?

2010-08-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we were admiring our school of Shiner Perch when we noticed that about seven of them were looking a little larger in the mid-region. Pigged –out on krill? Doubtful. The more likely possibility was that they were pregnant!

Shiner Perch have a complex mating system where the males perform a courtship dance for attractive females. If their moves are good enough the female might let the males mate with them. Sound familiar? Five to six months later anywhere from three to 40 babies are born.

After a few weeks our Shiners looked about ready to explode with their little babies. In preparation for the mass birthing, we relocated any potential baby eaters such as black rockfish, predators capable of turning the miracle of life into an all you can eat buffet!

On August 10^th the aquarium crew arrived to the work in the morning to find that our Shiner Perch had collectively given birth to around 40 babies, and a couple more were still birthing little ones; tail first…ouch!

The babies, 1 ¼” miniature version of their parents, are born so well developed that they practically swim out of their mothers. The males are also born reproductively mature with females maturing only a few weeks later.

This isn’t the first time this season that some of our fish have given birth. Last month our Tiger Rockfish gave birth only hours before she was supposed to go the rockfish breeding facility at the Vancouver Aquarium. Spawning is almost a weekly event in the aquarium with various species releasing mass amounts of sperm and eggs into the surrounding water. Visit the aquarium for answers about where babies come from!

What's In Our Water?

2010-08-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

The Ucluelet Aquarium operates on an unfiltered, open system that pumps in water directly from the harbour. Because the water is unfiltered, we have plankton from the harbour water flowing directly into our tanks. This means that we don’t have to feed any of our plankton eaters, but it also means that we are constantly cleaning our tanks of unwanted growth. Our waters are teeming with life, most of which is too small for us to see. Given time, this microscopic plankton might grow into organisms that are more familiar to west coast beachcombers. This concept sparked our idea for the “Empty Tank” whereby we leave a tank empty with only water from our pumps flowing into it, don’t clean it and then see what settles inside. Its’ been just over two months now since we started, and in that time we’ve seen everything from hydroids to fish come through the pipes to make a home in the now “not so empty” tank. Colonizers include: hydroids, bryozoans, barnacles, mussels, tunicates, nudibranchs, a variety of other unidentifiable life forms, and most recently, crab larvae.

The Empty Tank isn’t the only tank that contains creatures sucked in through the pipes. Last week we replaced the sand substrate in our Orange Sea Pen tank and found that about 750 Soft-Shelled clams and Nuttall’s cockles had settled within. These clams would have arrived into the tank via the pipes as larvae, and then grown to about an inch in a three month time span. There were so many clams embedded in the sand that they began to compete with the Orange Sea Pens for space.

In nature, planktonic larvae use a variety of factors to determine which areas are good to settle and grow depending on suitable substrate, food availability, predator abundance etc. Some are more picky then others, but with the variety of habitats in all of our tanks, larvae are bound to find the real-estate they like.

Splash for Trash at Whiskey Dock

2010-07-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Anyone missing their bike? It may be at the bottom of the harbour!

As part of the Ucluelet Harbour Appreciation Day on July 15, volunteers from the Ucluelet Aquarium and Ocean Planet Adventures dove for trash under the Whiskey Dock. From bottles to bicycles, there was more then enough trash to keep eight divers busy for nearly four hours. While our aquarists Jaylene, Laura and Nate dove for trash with the Ocean Planet staff, aquarists Dave, Spencer, Larissa, and Kane, along with Mark (Sport) from Barkley Sound Black Seals manned the dock pulling up trash lines and returning animals that had made a temporary home in the garbage. By the end of the day we had collected a gigantic pile of trash which was hauled off for recycling and disposal by the volunteers from the Ucluelet Rent-it Centre.

The Whiskey Dock definitely lived up to its name with enough bottles residing under the dock to rival the depot after Ukee days. There were so many bottles littering the harbour floor that our dive team had to stop collecting them in order to focus our efforts on the more nasty stuff such as boat batteries that corrode and leach toxic compounds into its surroundings (we were able to retrieve three large marine batteries in the time available to us).

We also pulled up ghost fishers. Of course I'm referring to old traps and nets that become lost or dumped but continue to capture marine life. The days of fishing are over for an old Black Cod trap and the remains of fishing nets that we collected. Among the many critters that took up housing in bottles, we collected a tiny new Giant Pacific Octopus from an empty Gin bottle. He now calls our nudibranch tank home, but will be released in a couple months.

As well, I'm not sure if the CO-OP was aware that they were missing some of their shopping carts. By the end of the day we had retrieved three of them. CO-OP representatives are welcome to claim them, although its unlikely they'll ever push groceries again. Encrusted in barnacles and rust, most people probably wouldn't want to put their food inside. And if the wheels were present, they were so seized that you would be forced to drag the cart across the store as you shopped. The six bikes we pulled up weren't in any better shape. With so much corrosion and marine life growing on them, its doubtful even Ukee Bikes could make them operable again.

Other things collected include:
lawnmower
countless bottles
a car exhaust
stereo system
rusty cable wire
old fishing nets and rope
dinner plates and mugs
and a variety of car parts
unknown/unidentifyable scrap metal and plastics

The Ucluelet Aquarium Society strives to promote healthy oceans, and a large barrier to ocean health is pollution. This includes all the trash that gets thrown into the ocean both intentionally and accidentally. Much of our garbage is non-decomposable and may take thousands of years to break down, if it breaks down at all (think plastics). Although much of this trash is out of sight and out of the minds of most, it accumulates to wreak havoc on our oceans. With the success of this year’s splash for trash, the Ucluelet Aquarium hopes to make this an annual event to continue to promote a healthy harbour.

The aquarium staff would like to give a special thanks to: Katie Beach (Nuu-Chah-Nulth biologist), who organized the Ucluelet Harbour Appreciation Day; Mark Porteous (Barkley Sound Black Seals Diving) who organized and brought everyone together for the dive; Steve Bird (Ucluelet Harbour Authority) for giving us dive access; Tony Konefall (Ucluelet Rent-it Centre) and Chris Bird (Sonbird Refuse and Recycling) for hauling, recycling and disposal of the garbage; West Coast Aquatic for the beach cleanup; and of course Andy and all the fantastic guys at Ocean Planet Adventures who dove for trash and loaned equipment to the Ucluelet Aquarium staff.

OPAH!

2010-04-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

What a way to start the day with a smell so fishy one might say. What was it coming from? The grandiose Opah fish, a.k.a. the Moon fish. Although a bit smelly, the beauty of this grand 100lb Lampris guttatus made it a treat to stand close to and admire from its iridescent coating and bright vermilion fins to its golden yellow eyes. It was definitely a sight to see. At the aquarium, we had the pleasure to view the Opah for a day and learn a bit of what is known of this rare fish. Thanks to Chris from Archipeligo Marine Research for taking it out of the freezer for us. This specimen was a by-catch from a hake fishing vessel and was being kept for further research.

We have managed to get all of the native plants collected for the landscaping of the new aquarium. In this last collection we succesfully transplanted some spruce , myrtle and pine. The pots that we used were donated and recycled from the District of Ucluelet and the landscaping from the new community hall. Thank -you to all for your support.