News Galway Atlantaquaria Our Ocean, Our Health Exhibit

Galway Atlantaquaria will launch their innovative 'Our Ocean, Our Health Exhibit: Observe, Enjoy and Explore the Digital Ocean’ on Saturday 11th November 2017 at 2pm.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP garry@nationalaquarium.ie

Galway Atlantaquaria, Ireland’s largest native species aquarium, is excited to host this new exhibit, which will amaze, excite and educate visitors about the diversity of life under the sea!  The visitor experience includes access to the Harmful Algal Blooms iBook, by author NUI Galway Scientist Dr. Robin Raine.  The iBook was co-edited by Dr Veronica McCauley and Dr Kevin Davison of NUI Galway’s School of Education and has been developed as part of NUI Galway’s contribution to an EU-funded European research project Sea Change (@SeaChange_EU).  The project aims to raise European citizens’ awareness of the ocean’s influence on us and our influence on the ocean, or “ocean literacy”.

This iBook is designed to infuse the engaging story of Harmful Algal Blooms into teaching across the sciences, and also provoke general discussion about these powerful species amongst the public.  Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when colonies of algae - simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater - grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on fish, shellfish, marine mammals, birds and people.

The importance of the ocean, and therefore ocean literacy, cannot be overestimated. The ocean defines and dominates everything about our planet. It is home to most of the life on Earth, regulates our weather and climate, provides most of our oxygen, and feeds much of the human population.