On September 24, the Primorsky Aquarium and Hefei Andover Oceanarium Co. Ltd. (People's Republic of China) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a framework for cooperation between two institutions in research and educational activities.
The MOU participants have agreed to work together on promoting biodiversity conservation, developing programs dedicated to research on aquatic species and raising public awareness of marine and freshwater life. The participants will exchange information regarding conservation and research activities, public display of animals, animal training, husbandry and captive breeding.
Olga Shevchenko, Director of the Primorsky Aquarium, has highlighted that the cooperation will give new opportunities to exchange expertise and modern research methods in marine biology with the foreign peers.
The Primorsky Aquarium has been keeping friendly relations and developing mutually profitable partnership with the Andover Leisure Group corporation for three years. The corporation owns a network of aquariums in China. Its stuff members have visited our institution several times to exchange knowledge and best practices. Their counterparts from the Primorsky Aquarium, on the other hand, paid return visits to China to learn about some tips and techniques of marine animal husbandry. And the partnership is gathering momentum — the Aquarium trainers of marine mammals went to China at the end of September to share their expertise in animal training with their partners. Additionally, aquarists from China will arrive in Vladivostok in November this year to work on comb jelly culturing together with their local peers. The task is considered challenging due to the specifics of ctenophore biology.
After singing the document, the Chinese side expressed hope for continued fruitful cooperation and thanked the Primorsky Aquarium for warm welcome.
