Yo-Han Cha visits the recently opened St Abbs Aquarium, where the exhibits are temporary guests, to be returned to the sea
YO-HANCHA
Izzie Best is welcoming divers to St Abbs Aquarium
North Sea showcase
Yo-Han Cha visits the recently opened St Abbs Aquarium, where the exhibits are temporary guests, to be returned to the sea
One of my favourite places for diving in the UK is in the Berwickshire Marine Reserve, located in the eastern coast of the Scottish Borders. If you’ re unfamiliar with this UK diving hotspot, it’ s very easily dived out of both St Abbs and Eyemouth, where you’ ll have a great choice of knowledgeable skippers to help you access the local diving.
If you find yourself with some time to kill after a day’ s diving and still have a hankering to see more of the underwater world, you could pop down to the new St Abbs Aquarium. It’ s located in St Abbs Marine Station, where I caught up with the Aquarium Supervisor, Izzie Best.
When did the aquarium open?
“ We’ ve been open since the beginning of April, but our staff and volunteers have been working hard much longer than that to get everything ready for public viewing.”
What do you exhibit?
“ We are an‘ All-North Sea Species’ aquarium and all of our animals are local species to St Abbs and the North Sea. St Abbs is a unique spot in the UK because of the flow of ocean currents we get here. This means we get a unique combination of warmer water animals and colder water animals, so the range of creatures you’ ll see here is more varied than anywhere else in the UK. Also, due to the seasonality of some animals, our species in the aquarium can change depending on what’ s out there near our coastline now. Most recently, we have played host to some squid eggs which are soon to hatch and be released once their ink sacs become visible.”
Where do your animals come from?
“ All our animals come from the sea around St Abbs and are collected ethically and sustainably by divers, snorkellers or rock poolers. This means that we never take more than we need and all our tanks are catch and release.‘ Catch and release’ means that the animals that you see will not
be living out their lifespans in our aquarium because we will be returning them to where we found them at the end of the summer.”
What’ s your favourite exhibit?
“ My favourite exhibit is probably the rockpool tank. I love how there’ s always something new to spot in there and all of the creatures are fascinating to learn about and watch. From pipefish to nudibranchs and tiny crabs, we have such a fantastic diversity of UK rockpool species represented to come and view.”
Where are you located?
“ We are tucked away down at the edge of St Abbs Harbour. We can be tricky to find but if you go all the way to the edge of the harbour( as if you are going to walk out along the harbour wall) you’ ll spot us and our sign. Alternatively, we also sell tickets in the visitor centre so they will give you some handy directions and a map if you get lost!”
Personally, I was really glad that I found the time to nip up to the St Abbs Aquarium on my most recent trip to Eyemouth. It showcases the variety of the life that you can expect to see in the North Sea, as well as being educational and family-friendly. �
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