Sea Life Discovery Center opens at Salisbury Beach Center
SALISBURY BEACH — The once vacant seaside storefront beside the SurfSide5 Beach Bar & Grille at the top of Broadway is now occupied by the Blue Ocean Society, a marine conservation organization dedicated to protecting local ocean waters.
All season long, the Blue Ocean Society will offer its Sea Life Discovery Center, giving children and adults an opportunity to discover the remarkable world under the sea. It will also conduct a beach cleanup on Saturday starting at 9 a.m.
The cleanup is not only an aesthetic improvement to the beach, but it will help conservationists learn more about the threats and hazards debris presents to the Salisbury Beach environment, programs coordinator Patty Adell said.
Volunteer for Saturday's cleanup should arrive at the center around 9 a.m. with work gloves; all other supplies will be provided, Adell said.
Those interested in local marine life can also enjoy Sea Life Discovery Center's exhibits, which feature several marine life touch tanks, filled with a variety of ocean animals and plants that visitors can observe and gently hold, whale information and artifacts such as bones and baleen, and informative displays about Gulf of Maine marine life. Whale lovers can even adopt a whale.
The center is open Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 7 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.
The center will also be open by appointment for groups such as Scout troops, schools, camps and other organizations looking for a unique, hands-on educational experience.
The Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H. For more information, contact Adell at 603-431-0260 or via e-mail at patty@blueoceansociety.org, or visit the society's Web site at www.blueoceansociety.org.
