Hebron Project Funds Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium
(L-R) Andrew Barry, President, ExxonMobil Canada Properties; Geoff Parker, Hebron Senior Project Manager; Melanie Knight, Executive Director, Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium (PHMA); along with PHMA board members Keith Mercer, Kaylen Hill and Geoff Coughlan.
Mini Aquarium seeks support for remaining fundraising efforts
- Hebron makes lead corporate donation of $100,000 for mini aquarium ocean laboratory
- Thirty displays to include local marine life collected by volunteer divers and local fishers
- Mini aquarium scheduled to open mid-June
Petty Harbour, NL - Sea life in the waters of Petty Harbour will soon be accessible to local area students thanks to an investment by the Hebron Project into a mini aquarium in the town. The Hebron Project is donating $100,000 to build an interactive ocean science lab as part of the Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium.
The mini aquarium will feature 30 small exhibits that will fit in an 800-square foot room, originally built by the Petty Harbour Fishermen's Coop for filleting cod fish, pre-moratorium. The Hebron contribution will be used to acquire ocean technologies for the aquarium, including two high definition video microscopes, underwater video cameras, a state-of-the-art exhibit for jellyfish as well as displays of other local sea life.
"The Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium is thrilled to be kicking off our public fundraising campaign with the generous support from the Hebron Project," said Melanie Knight, Petty Harbour's Mini Aquarium Founder and Executive Director. "The mini aquarium will provide a unique learning experience for families, tourists and students to get hands-on experience with local marine life and to inspire sustainability."
The aquarium will be a hands-on, catch-and-release "mini" aquarium, modeled after the extremely successful Ucluelet Mini Aquarium on Vancouver Island, BC. The Petty Harbour aquarium will operate from June 15 - October 19th, allowing overlap with the school year to better reach students.
"The Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium's focus on ocean education and technology is a natural fit for the Hebron Project," said Geoff Parker, Hebron Senior Project Manager. "Students visiting the mini aquarium will learn firsthand about science, technology and the marine environment, which is such a big part of the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians."
The mini aquarium is a unique non-profit organization located in the Petty Harbour Fisherman's Co-operative fish plant on the wharf of Petty Harbour. This fisherman's co-operative and tourism non-profit partnership will be the first of its kind in the province. The aquarium will complement existing tourism ventures such as the North Atlantic Zipline, Chafe's Landing and Ocean Quest.
For more information about the Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium, please click on www.miniaqua.org
Hebron is an oil field located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin 350 kilometres southeast of St. John's, NL. The Hebron Project co-venturers are ExxonMobil Canada Properties (operator), Chevron Canada, Suncor Energy Inc., Statoil Canada and Nalcor Energy. For more information on the Hebron Project visit www.hebronproject.com
Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium Contact:
Melanie Knight, Executive Director
Melanie@miniaqua.org
709 330 3474
Hebron Contact:
Lynn Evans, Public & Government Affairs Advisor
ExxonMobil Canada Properties
Lynn.Evans@exxonmobil.com
709 752 6433