The Cairns Marine Center was my favorite part of the trip. It was so cool learning about what they do and why they do it. The collect from the reef but they have the strictest standards when it comes to it. They use non damaging nets on the reef to collect. They have strict packaging and shipping regulations as well.

While I was there they had 2 huge shipments of nurse sharks and a shipment of fish and corals. I was in the Coral section most of the time and I helped clean the tanks and feed the animals. They had eels, shrimp, lobsters, invertebrates, and so much coral. We literally meal prepped for them. We hand minced shrimp with garlic, mussels, fish and prawns. It was really neat that they added garlic but it helps with metabolism, external parasites and appetite stimulant. I didn’t know that. I was able to hand feed a friendly Spotted Moray Eel. I did witness an eel that wasn’t doing so well and the employee didn’t know what happened and had to euthanize it. They preformed a necropsy later that day so I don’t know what happened. I was talking with the managers wife Anetta and told her they should do an intern/extern ship and I would totally fly back for it. It was truly amazing. I recommended if they do this trip again to send students there again.