Mote’s World Oceans Day Family Festival was fin-tastically fun!
This past Saturday Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and over 1,000 guests kicked off the summer with its ninth annual World Oceans Day Family Festival.
World Oceans Day is an international day of ocean celebration that provides an annual opportunity to honor, appreciate and educate about the conservation of the world’s oceans. Our oceans help regulate our climate, provide us with the oxygen we breathe, feed millions of people every year and even provide the foundation for many modern medicines.
World Oceans Day is nationally celebrated on June 8 and was established in 1992 at the Earth Summit. In 2009, it was declared an official holiday by the United Nations to serve as a reminder of the importance of a healthy ocean and its impact on the Earth and all of those who inhabit it.
Mote celebrated this year’s annual theme “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Plant” by hosting an event that combined educational activities, games and music that promotes reducing, reusing and recycling.
During Mote’s Family Festival, guests were encouraged to reflect about what each of us can do better to ensure a healthy future for our oceans.
Community groups that provided activities at their booths included Save Our Seabirds, Southwest Florida Water Management, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, Longboat Key Turtle Watch, Tampa Bay Watch and Sarasota Bay Watch.
Also in attendance was, The Garbage Men, a local band featuring instruments made out of reused and recycled garbage.
Mote also had an underwater photographer who dove into the Shark Tracker exhibit and took photos from the inside looking out.
World Oceans Day is officially only one day a year, but remember that every day is an opportunity to help keep our oceans clean and healthy!