At Cairns Marine, we have a deep belief in the concept and benefit of Conservation through Education. This has become our mantra and has underpinned our culture of collaboration with a diverse array of strategic partners, including fisheries and protected areas managers, wildlife researchers, documentary film makers and the many local schools whose students have toured our facility over the past decade.
Collection | Education | Research® captures the Cairns Marine philosophy of providing marine specimens for display to enhance people’s understanding and appreciation of the marine environment. The tripartite nature of the trademark registered emblem represents the value that is added to Cairns Marine’s collection activity. This value is added through non-commercial relationships with our colleagues in complementary fields.
This philosophy is viewed through the prism of community and market expectation for resource stewardship and sustainability. We recognise that the community is the ultimate auditor of environmental performance. To this end, we have been the driving force behind establishing the benchmark for operational standards that conveys the smallest possible environmental footprint; and we’ve extended that to cater for the anticipated effects of global climate change on the ecological function of healthy coral reefs.
This leadership approach has helped establish and build our range of research and extension collaboration. We now attract opportunity for collaboration with researchers and documentary film makers from all over the world that share our philosophical approach. The value that is added to marine conservation is difficult to measure. However, value might be measured through attendances at public aquaria that in turn invest in research and community extension.
More than 700 million visitors pass through the gates of the zoos and aquariums united in the World Association of Zoos and Aquaria network each year. In 2007, more than 143 million people visited a public aquarium in the United States alone. Aquariums enhance public understanding of wildlife and the conservation of the places animals live. Public display of animals that would not otherwise be encountered by the general public, in conjunction with appropriate educational programs, help connect people with nature and encourages attitude and behavioural changes that help conservation.