Naturalist Job Description

I worked as a Naturalist at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre from May 1st, 2000 until September 1st, 2001. I really enjoyed my time there and this page gives you a description of my former job. I got to dive with sharks, handle boa constrictors, interpret killer whale shows and so much more! If you were a visitor at the Aquarium, you may have seen me interpret a sea otter feed, then a killer whale show, then jump in with the black tip reef sharks for a dive! In the breaks between shows I was able to interact with visitors of all ages from all around the world. I talked about interesting props such as baleen and octopus beaks and helped people discover the wonders of the ocean.

I frequently talked to children at the Aquarium, and I really loved that part of my work. They would ask questions after shows, come and play at the Treasure Chest (children's activity centre) and attend my puppet shows and plays. I loved it when kids were inspired after a visit to the Aquarium. One day, after stepping out of the shark exhibit, I went downstairs to hand a shark tooth to a child and she asked, "When can I work here?" In spring 2001, after I interpreted a beluga dive show, an adorable six year old girl came up to me and announced, "When I grow up, I want to be a marine biologist!"

Diving was a great part of my job that was really exciting. I learned to SCUBA dive in May 2000, and started diving in Aquarium exhibits in September. During my year of diving at the Aquarium, I dove in the shark exhibit, the Strait of Georgia exhibit (local BC animals), the Indo Pacific coral reef exhibit, the beluga exhibit, and the dolphin habitat!!! I had ten chances to dive with the belugas and it was fantastic! Also, in spring 2001, I had a few chances to dive with Whitewings, the Pacific white-sided dolphin! During on of my favorite dives (March 2001) Whitewings was full of energy and zipped around the habitat, right past me and my buddy. She was going so fast that I could feel the jets of water rushing past!

Diving with sharks sounds scary, but they were quite calm and usually ignored me. I was more worried about the bluefin trevallies (or jacks) that swam past me in schools. Several of the naturalists were bitten by them! My favorite exhibit to dive in was the Strait of Georgia. It's filled with a diversity of marine life, including two white sturgeons, a giant Pacific octopus, two wolf eels, a lingcod, various rockfish, thousands of herring, and more! Each dive was a new experience, and I got to feed the animals, which was very exciting! (Imagine having your hand in a sturgeon's toothless, vacuum tube-like mouth or feeling a wolf-eel's velvety skin with your bare hands!)

Because the first eleven months of my job was funded by the provincial Environment Youth Team (E-team) grant, I was required to spend 20% of my time training for future employment. This gave me the chance to go to interesting workshops and experience different job descriptions. On November 7, 2000, I was lucky enough to accompany the Aquarists on a chum salmon egg take in the Indian River. We were collecting eggs and milt (salmon sperm) for the Aquarium's new hatchery and the Seymour River Hatchery. I was wading around in hipwaders, brandishing my net, looking for the appropriate salmon. It was amazing to be that close to the salmon, I had them swimming between my boots! Some of them were quiet enough to be picked up by their tails, others were feisty and required stealth to catch. What a day!

To wrap up my E-team training, I took a trip to Fraser River Park on March 11th with RiverWorks, the Aquarium's habitat restoration program. A dedicated group of approximately 30 adults and kids removed large pieces of woody debris from the marsh, making room for vegatation to grow. It felt great to be out there doing something to help the environment, but was I ever sore afterwards!

My last day of work at the Aquarium was Saturday, September 1st, 2001. On that momentous occasion, I reached my 200th dive! In total, I spent 1.6 days underwater in various Aquarium exhibits. I am thankful for the skills and knowledge my Aquarium experience gave me, but the times I will remember most are the ones spent with my fabulous co-workers.