By Anika Assaraf
Over the first three weeks scattered throughout our days were short bursts of back breaking, finger numbing, hand cutting work. This work was more physically demanding than I had imagined. The aim: to get the tanks completed and ready for customers.
We came into our placement to find the aquarium as a blank canvas. Due to a pump failure a few days before our arrival the tanks had been emptied. A rather timely demise as it gave us the chance to really understand and experience the hard work that goes into setting up the tanks.
The general instructions to set up the inside of a tank are as follows:
Siphoning out the water that was in the tank to keep the seams under pressure.
Adding sediment, this may be deep sea mud or rocks (large or small), the latter must be washed before going in the tank. It is then time to add height, this can be done using rocks, seaweed and kelp, all of which must be obtained from the shores of Millport, this often served as a great opportunity to observe the marine life of these waters in their natural habitat. In Pottery Bay crabs can sometimes be seen between the rocks and in the rock pools of White Bay you can also spot plenty of fish, if you look hard enough. Then it’s time to add the animals, as a catch and release facility we typically just go for what we have on site that was brought in from the trawls or stuff that has been caught by the staff at the centre.
Once you are done be sure to admire your work and after a well-deserved break its time to start on the next tank.
Once the tanks were completed it was time to get acquainted with maintenance. The first task I encountered, mackerel feed. The first thing I learnt, don’t gut up a fish just before lunch when you are having a tuna sandwich. I also learned that starfish can be suborn, anemones can be greedy (one decided to have mackerel for lunch and a starfish for dessert, we managed to pull the starfish from the grasp of the anemone before it was too late) and squat lobsters although small can be unforgiving when hungry. Other maintenance tasks included squeegee cleans, siphon cleans, seaweed changes and scraps feeding. By this point in the internship we had been left to our own devices, which was a fresh change. Having only ever worked in places as a student where a supervisor sets out every single task you need to get done it felt freeing to not be micromanaged and actually gave me a chance to learn how to manage my tasks become, more independent and learn how to solve problems that may arise.
Since we were based in the shop that is where we spent a large portion of our days, helping customers, since I had never worked in a shop before my first few encounters with costumers were rather awkward. However, you quickly learn that when it comes to customer services the most important thing is to smile and have a friendly attitude and they won’t be too bothered that you rang up the wrong things on the till and must process their order again. When the shop wasn’t too busy, we would do some research on the species that had been in the tanks before, I now have a small reservoir of knowledge on the marine life in the waters surrounding Millport. As I write this on my last day of work I am very grateful to FSC for providing this internship and for all the help and support they offered along the way.
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