Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium gets financial boost

There was good news for the Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium on the day of its official re-opening for its second season.

As the organizers marked World Oceans Day on Sunday as part of their reopening, they were also buoyed by a $10,000 funding announcement made by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Keith Hutchings was on hand to announce the funds that will go to support this year's marine legacy program at the Mini Aquarium.

The program is geared towards giving youth experiences that may lead them towards careers in marine sciences.

The grand re-opening ceremony also featured the return of a blue lobster called Gorm, which made national news last year after being found by a local fisherman. Gorm stayed at the Marine Sciences building over the winter before returning to the Mini Aquarium on Sunday.

• Blue lobster snags new home, far from a boiling pot

Other attractions at the aquarium this year will include an albino crab and Atlantic wolffish, which are listed under the Species at Risk Act. Wolffish are long eel-like fish with large jaws and teeth.

The Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium is one of only three catch-and-release aquariums in the country, where divers make the catches in the spring and release them in the fall when the aquarium closes.

The Mini Aquarium tries to offer visitors a unique hands-on experience that otherwise can only be available to scuba divers.

"The goal of the mini aquarium is to foster curiosity and to foster sustainability both in their own lives and on a global scale to help protect the oceans," said Keith Moore, the new executive director of the Mini Aquarium.

The aquarium will be open every day from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. until Oct. 11. In 2013, more than 17,000 visitors came to the aquarium during its four-month season.