Sea Shore Antics

[administration]

Credit given to innovative ideas?

Engineering and

Technology have come on leaps and bounds and so integrating these new boundaries into designs of newer aquariums must get its praise surely.

The public walk

around in awe of the height of the 'glass tank' in front of them or the ability to walk through the acrylic tunnel to get a different perspective and so perhaps a fresh

view on learning or at least acknowledging that there are other wonders existing on this planet.

They even may have only come along in the first place because

of the advertising of the greatest, newest, firstest, highest type of advertising.....
..... but they came along! and after all the aquariums need to generate revenue

on the turnstyles and be seen to be 'with-it' and stay modern and fresh, so why not, and credit should be given. Shouldnt it?

So why am I getting emails from

people who think they should be shut down or no more built.
These emails carry personal thoughts, such as "its cruel to keep wild animals confined for public

spectacle" and things like "lots of exhibits display unatural behaviour and are often seen dead", although isnt dead a natural state?

Maybe they have some points,

but to fall into the (in my mind) obsessed rather than humanly reasonable catagory, any good that the use of aquariums do accomplish is not recognised or even

acknowledged and then such things as an incident, such as a dead fish in the tank that has been photograghed and then plugged into the following dodgy

equation:

pic of dead fish in tank = all tanks = lots of fish = lots of death = conclusive malpractise = close aquariums and slowly simmer the owners.

I'm

sure there are aquariums that are in need of improvement, much the same as any businesses, but as for all of them, I think not, not even for the majority of the 50 or

so aquariums around the UK. Surely the work in general is of benefit and for now, a credit to those owners and staff, who work hard to bring it about?

Maybe the

future will evolve our study of such creatures (the exhibits, not the staff) and their environment through a virtual aquarium, where there are no live creatures, but digital

recordings of them in the wild, watched by public walking around an aquarium containing a huge collection of 'live' tv screens in place of the tanks of today.... but then

would we settle for 2D imaging?

Could certainly have touch screen consoles showing short video clips of the creatures in action when the public selected creature

of choice. The clips could show natural behaviour bite size moving image or animation info so it can be associated with the creature they see (for now) in the tank in

front of them.

Just a thought
Stephen

[Kate]

haha... re ''slowly simmered''!

I agree, no one would have much concept of what lived beneath our seas if displays and info (all neatly

placed under one convenient roof) were not made possible.
I notice every now and again that local fishermen find a rare 'beastie' and it hits the news with the usual

sentence in the announcement that it has gone to the local aquarium... either for varification or a recovery session etc.
So if they were not existing, who would give

an interest in such matters... probably no-one. So they have their place and their purpose, beyond just opening doors for public, but as you rightly mention, they need

to generate revenue, so it all seems worthwhile.

As for death and stuff! Well it aint no easy ride in the wild and things are being eaten or displaced every day, so

the complainers should be realsistic.... As long as there is a good guide line and active discussion on handling and keeping then we (as humans) can still progress to

better reasoning for our actions... we are after all, always investigating and bringing that info (more with modern media) to the masses who prefer to sit on sofa, or at

best stroll around a display of tanks (even if it were just because it was raining!!!

Idea of monitors with extra behavioural info is forward thinking, and they should

take it up.
Kate

[Andy]

Ive only ever noticed that the little 'harbourside' aquariums are lacking in grand architectural design and eduacational facilitation for the the likes

of schools, yet they do have innovation in just the fact that they are actually set up in the first place and usually represent well the local UK inhabitants (often provided

by the local fishermen).

I think this level of delivery for the public, I consider it stimulates their thinking about the otherwise mysterious creatures that live around

the shores.

This must give them an awareness, and I think awareness is great value.

Andy

[administration]

Yep, beneficial awareness, seems to be the key thing people feed back, when in agreement that aquariums serve a good function.

More

and more cameras are able to capture wild images of marine life nowerdays, so awareness is being brought to the living room as well, but this would not negate the

importance of the aquariums holding specimens for viewing as the camera teams and researchers often need to study the wildlife they are to film before spending major

money on often 'one off' visits to the locations in the wild..
..so I would add research and study of behaviour (to a degree) to benefit both pro and general public on

visitations.

Care is considered in the husbandary of the tank inhabitants and this involves study of their natural habitats to gain and duplicate the required

needs... that in itself requires attention to research and study (assuming reputable aquarium).

S

[Sally]

I went to one, in a fishing village, paid my £2, walked round the kink in the wall and behold------------------------ A room the size of an

average garage! haha!
Actually the exhibits were all local and there was actually quite a lot in the tanks, but time spent in there was 30mins tops. I found £2 was

right on the limit of voiceing a refund. A whole family could go in for under a tenner, which seems good nowadays, but then they wouldnt stay much longer than that, so

dont think they get many return visitors.
Sal

[natalie]

Kink in the wall is a good observation! They put it there so you separate with your money before you get to see what is around the corner!

[bethany]

Hasnt it been the method from all history that the bigger a business gets, the more it is capable (needs to) nick other peoples ideas and claim

them as its own?
There is everything to be gained from letting others do the work (research and development) and then nicking the results to use for own

means.
On the website here, the example in nature is the blennys knicking the mussel meat that the crab has spent two hours energy in opening it..... it happens in

nature from basic creatures..... it will happen in business!

Humans are evolve (some) more than base nature and so fair deal should be honoured.
Beth (&

Stephen)!