Posted by Aaron on March 03, 2003 at 10:44:04:
In Reply to: Aqarium of the Pacific posted by DougD on March 02, 2003 at 00:46:25:
Things must have changed dramatically since I was there just last year (for diver’s day). I thought the exhibits were great. I especially liked the focus on local critters.
I took my grandmother up there because it’s one of the few places where she might be able to see these animals live and in as natural a setting as is possible. As for touching the animals, I think that’s great and I’d like to see more animals in the touch pools. Certainly being touched will have some negative impact on the animals, but this is far outweighed by the experience people can have by actually feeling the animal. The sea lion exhibit was great too--try explaining to a non diver how graceful a sea lion can be in the water. Also, when I was there, they were hand feeding the rays in one of the big tanks—apparently the rays can’t get to the food before the other fish without someone feeding them by hand—this is great fun to see if you haven’t been to the Cayman’s.
As diver’s we are sometimes spoiled by being able to experience many of these things in the open water, but for many, seeing these things in an aquarium is the best they can hope for. We ought to be thankful that we have a resource like the AOP and the volunteers/contributors who keep it running.