| Marine Life Exhibit Overview |
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| Written by Administrator | |
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At a time when the coastal areas of Puerto Rico are subject to increased pressure from development, the Marine Life Exhibit of the Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust helps to educate the community and visitors about the fragile relationship between the coastal areas and the marine life which is so vital for our environment.
On November 21st, 2000, after three years of collaborative effort between the VCHT, the Department of Natural Resources and CORALations, a Puerto Rico based non-profit, organization; the initial stage of the Marine Life Exhibit was opened. Later we were able to add five twenty-gallon aquariums to the display. The smaller tanks allow us to display animals that cannot go in the bigger tanks for reasons of compatibility. The animals are only visitors to the display – after a short stay in the tanks they are rotated back out to sea. Murals painted by Kevin Matta, showing some of the local marine animals enhance the exhibit. The Marine Life Exhibit at the VCHT is a story of generosity, collaboration and enthusiasm. We are grateful to Mary-Ann Lucking of CORALations, who kindly donated the equipment to the VCHT; to José Mendez, an aquarium specialist who helped us set up the displays and serve as an advisor to our aquarium systems. We would also like to thank countless members of the Vieques community, including Carlos “Prieto” Ventura, Armando Torres, biologist Edgardo Belardo of DRNA, Miguel “Bolo” Rosa, who supplied the electrical. With the help from NOAA new exhibits will take the aquarium to a whole new level. We would like to thank members of the VCHT who steadfastly believed in the importance of the exhibit and gave their time and resources to see it become a reality: Colleen McNamara, especially, for spearheading the project; Elizabeth Langhorne for her generous donation in her mother’s name; and Barbara Bernache-Baker, who, with Ruben Reyes, and Prieto Ventura, brought the tanks over from Culebra. Since then, thousands of children, young and old, have visited these “Windows into the Sea”. With the generous donations of our members, we have been able to hire Mark Martin as our marine life expert who gives talks about the animals in the exhibit. Mark and our young Viequense guides, the “Volunteers of Nature”, who help out with the display are our best ambassadors in the effort to protect our treasures from the sea. |
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