This free event attracts hundreds of children and families who come to help release the marine life from the Aquarium back into Nantucket Harbor from where they were collected. Armed with plastic buckets, Aquarium staff direct the young volunteers, turning them into a bucket brigade to release the animals. Attendees should plan to possibly get wet.
“The creatures we release back to Nantucket Harbor are ones that we caught during the summer. These aquatic animals provide a rich learning experience for our Aquarium visitors. But, like each year in the past, we send these creatures back to their ocean home at the end of the season,” says Dr. Emily Goldstein Murphy, Director of Natural Science at the Maria Mitchell Association. Animals to be released include horseshoe crabs, trigger fish, crabs, skates, dogfish, and many other species. The event is organized with different species released over the three-hour event. Interns and Aquarium staff direct the young volunteers in the proper and safe way of reuniting the animals with Nantucket Harbor. Well over one hundred animals will be returned to the ocean. Attendees should be prepared to get wet.
