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Committed to the Ocean

WORLD OCEANS DAY

In 2004, Le Croisic aquarium joined the WON (World Ocean Network), a network of aquariums, museums, zoos, NGOs, etc.DAY

Every year, on 8 June, World Oceans Day is celebrated in many places around the world.

For its part, the Océarium du Croisic organises various activities to help save the oceans:

awareness campaigns on the ground: cleaning beaches, handing out rubbish bags to people sailing for leisure,
lectures on various topics such as the use of sea products in oncology,
meeting with the media, local elected officials and schools to raise awareness in as many people as possible of the need to protect the marine environment.

Because everything or nearly everything on the earth finds itself in the oceans sooner or later and because it is not too late for things to change!

PELAGIS OBSERVATORY

Initially called CRMM, Centre de Recherche sur les Mammifères Marins [Centre for Research on Marine Mammals], the PELAGIS observatory was established in 1972, in La Rochelle.

Its main mission is to centralise and process all the information gathered about marine mammals. In order to make the collection of this information as simple and effective as possible, the Réseau national d’échouage (RNE) [National Beaching Network] was set up and is coordinated by the PELAGIS Observatory.

The Océarium has been working with the organisation for almost 25 years. The aquarium is therefore entitled to rescue seals, turtles or dolphins in difficulty, injured or beached up on our shores. For each case, we fill in the apposite identification form and send it as promptly as possible to the PELAGIS observatory, in La Rochelle for cetaceans, or in Brest for seals. These centres then tell the Océarium what to do next.

www.observatoire-pelagis.cnrs.fr

EUROPEAN UNION OF AQUARIUM CURATORS

In the 1970s, it was felt a group should be formed to allow aquariums, which were a bit isolated, to exchange ideas and experiences. Hence, in 1972, the EUAC, the European Union of Aquarium Curators, was born.

The Océarium has been a member of the EUAC since it was created and enjoys special relationships with its European colleagues.

Every year, the Océarium exchanges not only animals but also technical and scientific information with aquariums in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Belgium, etc.

The Océarium is also a member of the Union des Conservateurs d’Aquariums français (UCA) [French Union of Aquarium Curators]. In 2013, the Union’s aquariums made a film together, ‘Sharks in Questions’, to dispel the misconceptions surrounding this little-known species.