New marine biodiversity centre opens in Halifax

A new marine biodiversity centre held its grand opening in Halifax on Saturday, welcoming more than 500 visitors in the first few hours.

The Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity, which is housed at Dalhousie University's Steele Ocean Sciences Building, is the first-of-its-kind in Halifax, complete with multiple live aquariums, interactive exhibits and a full 18-metre-long blue whale skeleton that hangs from the ceiling.

The new facility is run by Discovery Centre International (the centre's social enterprise branch) alongside the school.

Jennifer Punch, chief operating officer of the Discovery Centre, says it has 30 exhibits, including live species from the Atlantic Ocean and educational materials about ongoing research happening in the province.

“Here in Atlantic Canada, of course, we’re so fortunate to be living on the ocean," Punch said. "And it’s so important for us to appreciate the ocean, and to understand the species that are around us: how to preserve them, how to conserve them and how to celebrate them.”

Punch said the challenge of housing live fish pushed the opening of the facility back a few times, but the animals seem to have warmed up to their new homes. Some of the species at the centre include scallops, crabs, Atlantic wolffish, flounders and sea ravens.

“It really came down to when are the animals ready and how do we make them the most comfortable as possible,” she said.

Punch said the exhibits were created with Indigenous knowledge, and all information and videos are available in three languages: Mi'kmaw, French and English.

The facility currently employs five people, including three full-time staff and two Dalhousie students who are completing internships.

Nadia Stewart, a recent graduate who works as a visitor experience facilitator, said she's happy to see the centre finally open to the public.

She said the seven aquariums take visitors through different ecosystems off Nova Scotia.

“The first one is an intertidal aquarium and then we highlight the seagrass meadows that are a super important ecosystem,” said Stewart. “And then we go to the invasive species that's right next to the seagrass meadows to show how they actually affect those seagrasses, and then so on.”

Eight-year-old Charlotte Hollingsworth, who came to visit the new centre with her dad, said she was excited to see the marine animals in action.

“It was really fun,” she said. “I liked the whale bones.”

She said she hopes her school will host a field trip to the centre sometime soon.

“I’m really interested in whales and seahorses,” she said. “It comes from just how beautiful both of those animals are. And I want to learn more about why those animals are being hunted.”

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