Marine Institute Open Day

On Sunday 14 April the Marine Institute's Newport Catchment Facility will welcome visitors from 11am to 4pm. This is an opportunity for visitors to view the facilities in the Burrishoole Valley and learn more about the research taking place at the site.

The Marine Institute’s Newport Catchment Facility forms one of the greatest natural laboratories for studying migratory fish in Europe. The facility has been in operation since 1955, and includes laboratories, a freshwater hatchery, fish rearing facilities, fish census trapping stations, a salmonid angling fishery and a monitored freshwater lake and river catchment. A range of cutting edge research is undertaken at the Newport Catchment Facility including genetics work across several species of salmon, sea bass, pollock and bluefin tuna, as well as research on catchment ecosystems events, climate change, oceanography and aquaculture.

Visitors will have the opportunity to speak with researchers, scientists and staff at the Newport facility. A number of PhD candidates will also be available to talk to students about their subject choices and potential careers in the marine sector.

View fish species up-close in the aquarium displays, learn how to read a salmon scale and look through microscopes to see freshwater invertebrates. There is also the chance to visit the manual weather station and see the instruments used to collect daily data for Met Éireann.

Children will get the chance to touch some fish species that were captured during fisheries surveys on the RV Celtic Explorer. They will also enjoy creating patterns in kinetic sand with the INFOMAR Augmented Reality Sandbox.

FREE BUS!

There will be a FREE bus departing from the school at 11am and 2pm, with return journeys at 1.30pm and 4pm.