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Oregon Coast Aquarium Celebrates Oceans, Father's Day
(Newport, Oregon) – Two major holidays are coming up for the Oregon Coast Aquarium. World Oceans Day Monday happens June 8, with a day of activities to increase awareness about our oceans and its creatures. While Father’s Day gets the red carpet treatment with a whole weekend that allows Dad to hang with sharks on Jun 20 and 21. World Oceans Day Monday will include scuba dive presentations, face painting, an ocean craft, and a presentation in the theater about climate change and the wildlife of the Antarctic Peninsula. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Surfrider Foundation will offer information about their organizations and what they do to protect the ocean. As of 2009, World Oceans Day has been officially designated by the United Nations as June 8 each year, a significant step in conserving and protecting our oceans. The Ocean Project, working with the World Ocean Network, coordinates events and activities to promote ocean literacy in collaboration with aquariums, museums and zoos. The Ocean Project challenges people to take the Seven C’s Pledge for ocean conservation; 1) Commit to making a difference, 2) Conserve at home, 3) Consume consciously 4) Communicate interest and concerns, 5) Challenge ourselves daily, 6) Connect to community and 7) Celebrate our ocean. For more information, visit the Ocean Project website at www.theoceanproject.org This year’s theme for World Oceans Day, “One Ocean, One Climate, One Future,” emphasizes the fact that whether we live inland or on the coast, we are all connected to the ocean. World Oceans Day celebrates that connection by recognizing how the ocean generates most of the oxygen we breathe, helps feed us, regulates our climate, cleans the water we drink, offers us many potential medicines and provides limitless inspiration. The intent of World Oceans Day is to encourage us to change our perspective by thinking about what the ocean means to us, learn about how our daily actions affect the ocean’s creatures and their habitats. It is a day to think about ways we can make small changes to our everyday habits that will make a big impact on the marine environment. World Oceans Day Activities: For Father’s Day weekend, it’s a special Breakfast with the Sharks on Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21. Oregon Coast Aquarium will offer Father’s Day weekend, allowing visitors to enter the Aquarium before it opens to the public and enjoy a hearty breakfast while learning about sharks. Breakfast with the Sharks will take place, from 8 to 9:30 am in the Gleason Event Room in front of the private viewing window of the Sharks in the Passages of the Deep exhibit. Cost for Breakfast With the Sharks for non members is $25; cost for members is $20, which includes Aquarium admission. Reservations are required by calling (541) 867-3474 ext. 2313.
During breakfast, visitors will watch the sharks being fed their breakfast by husbandry staff while an Aquarium biologist gives a talk about their diet, behaviors and physiology. Breakfast, provided by the Aquarium’s Local Ocean Café, will be a variety of breakfast offerings freshly prepared by Enrique Sanchez, award winning Local Ocean chef. “Breakfast with the Sharks is truly a special event,” said Cindy Hanson, Aquarium Public Relations Manager. “It’s magical to be in the Aquarium before it opens, when everything is quiet. From the private viewing window in the Gleason Event Room, you really get a unique perspective of the sharks and bat rays in Passages of the Deep while enjoying a delicious breakfast from Local Ocean Cafe.” Sharks will be spotlighted as important members of their ocean habitats, unlike the man-eating monsters portrayed in the movies. Sharks live in oceans around the globe—from warm shallows to the cold, deep sea and even fresh water lakes. All of the sharks exhibited at the Oregon Coast Aquarium are species native to Oregon’s coastal waters. Visitors will meet the sharks from Oregon’s coast during this glimpse into the world of sharks. Sharks and their ancestors have presided over the seas for nearly 400 million years, but in the wild today, shark populations are suffering from human activity. Through habitat destruction and overfishing, humans have become more dangerous to sharks than they are to us. Sharks have been depicted as man-eaters and killers for centuries. The reality is that of the more than 350 species, only a handful pose any threat to humans. For more information, visit the Aquarium’s Web site at www.aquarium.org or call (541) 867-FISH. For more about Newport lodging.... RELATED STORIES
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