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exhibition trailer affectionately dubbed “The Minnow,” which was funded in part by the Edmonton Community Foundation and has been fitted with solar panels, fish tanks, microscopes and an interactive wrap-around decal developed in partnership with computing science and business students at the University of Alberta. After debuting at the Edmonton Boat and Sportsmen Show in March 2024, the trailer has been featured at festivals, schools and conservation events.
“People like a place where they can come and learn about fish or learn about their ecosystems and entertain their kids,” says Lee Burton, who serves as the secretary to the board and oversaw the development of The Minnow.
“What we envisioned was families coming up, exploring the water and learning about what’s in it. There are exciting things in our wetlands and ponds, what is a water tiger... or a scud? What do they tell us? That’s exactly what the exhibit is for.”
Burton — who is a professional scuba diver and is responsible for filling The Minnow’s fish tanks with water from nearby local ecosystems — is one of several volunteers who
has helped keep the Aquatic Biosphere Project afloat in the decade since it was founded. As a fully volunteer-run initiative, the organization is mostly run on board member’s free time (or as Polman puts it, off the side of their desks). That also means that the Aquatic Biosphere Project was hit especially hard during the pandemic, which tested each board member’s individual and institutional resolve. Thankfully, the organization was able to rely
“PEOPLE ARE TACTILE AND SENSORY. WE HAVE TO SEE, TOUCH, FEEL, TASTE AND USE SOMETHING TO REALLY UNDERSTAND IT.”
̶ Paula Polman 22 LEGACY IN ACTION