Sharks take to the skies as part of North Rock tank restoration
The draining of 140,000 gallons of seawater, the transportation of 213 sea creatures, including three live sharks in a crane, and the dislodging of massive 6-inch thick acrylic panels are just some of the tasks involved in a major restoration at the aquarium.
The magnitude of works being carried out on the North Rock tank at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo was detailed yesterday by the principal curator of the facility.
Ian Walker gave The Royal Gazette a behind-the-scenes tour of the popular attraction, saying the works have involved almost every staff member, with the help of outside teams.
The restoration of the tank, which is being completely resealed at the panel edges and reset for the first time in its almost 30-year history, is expected to be completed by April.
Dr Walker said: “We had to take all of our inhabitants and move them somewhere else.
“It has been quite an undertaking and our teams did an amazing job including our aquarist and veterinary teams.
“For the major lift we had Island Construction Services come in as we had to lift some of the animals across to the seal pools.
“First of all, we lowered the water in the tank to about three feet and corralled the nurse sharks into an area.
“We then had to get them into shark bags — very strong bags that allow some water through and allow you to keep your shark under control.
“The bags then had to go into a shark stretcher, the stretcher put into a shark box which is brought in a crane and lowered into the pool. We then had to reverse the process and release the sharks.
“Our seals were moved to the eastern side of their pool. Our large pelagic fish and nurse sharks are now on the other side, separated by a gate.
“We have horse-eyed jacks, the grouper and nurse sharks. They handled it very well.
“It took a lot of planning — we had checklist beyond checklist to make sure it was all done and it took us about three hours and 45 minutes to move them all.”
The operation took two teams led by Dr Walker and Gaëlle Roth, the facility’s veterinarians.
Patrick Talbot, an aquarium and zoo curator, was in the North Rock tank physically helping that team while Lisa Ray, the head aquarist, was in the seal pool managing the release there with her staff.
Additionally, some zookeepers and plant staff were recruited to help.
Sadly, one fish — Spike the barracuda who had occupied the tank since its early days — perished in the move, despite extra efforts to safely move him.
Dr Walker explained: “Just because of some of the complexities, we brought in a gentleman from Dynasty Marine in Florida, his job is capturing fish and moving them all over the world.
“We brought him in for more expertise because we have never done this before.
“Spike did OK on the day of the move. We care about all of our animals and we went the extra mile for Spike.
“We got a special bag and chemicals to sedate him which worked well, but I think it was too stressful in the end.”
He described the operation overall as “very successful”.
Now the tank is drained and the 49 species of animals are out, teams — including from US-based Exhibits Solutions International, a specialist acrylic company — are digging out sealant and grouting from the acrylic panels so they can be securely reset.
While the panels have been repaired several times before, this is the first time they have been removed and reset since being installed.
The restoration work on the North Rock tank at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo is being completed ahead of a larger infrastructure project at the facility.
BAMZ is to receive $1.75 million from the Ministry of Public Works and Environment as part of the master plan.
Jaché Adams, the Minister of Public Works and Environment, who recently toured the facility, touched on the allocation during the Budget debate in Parliament in May.
The funds will go towards the implementation of the 2025 to 2038 plan that aims to improve and transform the popular attraction.
Ian Walker, the principal curator of BAMZ, said: “We have already started part of it; the alligator pond is being built and we have broken ground on certain things.”
He said the terrapins had been moved to accommodate Oscar the alligator and he revealed that the area where Oscar was formerly housed will form part of an expanded children’s playground.
Dr Walker added: “The Government has been super supportive and we have got the funding to do that moving forward.
“Minister Adams has been great to work with.”
Work on the tank’s filtration equipment, after years of salt water corrosion, is also under way as sand in the tank is sucked out and cleaned.
The total operation costs for the tank restoration are estimated to be about $350,000, Dr Walker said.
“This is a critical fix that had to happen,” he explained.
“It will not look the same after we finish; it will take time for the growth on the rocks to come back, which makes it look natural.
“The rocks are matured so it should come back pretty quickly.
“It is sad to see it down like this but I’m looking forward to when it is finished and it is fresh and clean.
“It’s a pretty amazing exhibit. It’s the iconic exhibit of the museum so we want to return it to its former glory.”
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