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Our Junior Marine Biologist program took place in July 2018 with middle-school aged girls in the Annapolis Valley. Read more below for program details and to see photos!
Our 2018 Junior Marine Biologist program was 1.5 jam-packed days of hands-on and experiential learning about marine biology and what it’s like to be a marine biologist. We started out with an early morning at the Porter weir, assisting female biologists from Acadia University with their conservation research on Atlantic sturgeon and Little and Winter skate. We then traveled to Smiley’s Provincial Park, where we learned how to set up a tent and had a group discussion and activity about marine pollution, oil spills, and how to reduce our consumption of single-use plastics. We painted re-usable Terranaut Club bags, built mini boats for our engineering activity, and enjoyed the beautiful day. In the evening, we traveled BACK to the Porter weir for a tide of conservation research in total darkness! Girls were equipped with Glo-sticks and headlamps and had a blast exploring the ocean floor at night. We made it through torrential rains in our tents overnight (go girls!), and capped off the program the next morning with a squid dissection, discussion of local shark species, and making and presenting posters about their 2 tides of research at the weir. Our participants lucked out during their tides at the weir, seeing a total of 10 sturgeon (some 6 feet long!), over 25 other species of marine creatures, and meeting 7 young female biologists from Acadia University.
Thank you to all of our volunteers and our generous sponsors of this program: McCallum Environmental Ltd., the Canadian Federation of University Women Wolfville Chapter, and Annapolis Cider Company.


