From the Disney Parks Blog and written by: Kaitlyn Woollen
The Seas with Nemo & Friends at EPCOT is home to thousands of sea animals from over 60 different species, but also home to our aquarists and dive masters who educate and take care of the marine life, in partnership with our Guest Animal Experience Team. In the nearly 6-million-gallon saltwater aquarium, you may see sea turtles, sharks, rays and many different kinds of fish enjoying a swim. You can also spot our dive masters throughout the day performing maintenance on the reefs, feeding the animals, or saying hello to our guests.
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Dive Masters, Jim [left] and Harrison [right]
To understand more about dive masters, we talked with Brett, one of the dive masters who works at The Seas and has been part of the team for a little over two years.
Question: What exactly is a Dive Master?
Dive Masters are the support system of the aquarium. We are in the water all day whether in the manatee exhibit or coming into the main environment. We are all scuba certified and work with our animals to ensure proper feeding, cleanliness of the exhibit and more. For all of us here working at The Seas, this is not just a job, it’s more like having fun while providing great service and care to animals and guests.
Q. What do you enjoy most about being a Dive Master?
Whether you are working or visiting, everyone greets you with a smile here at The Seas. Everyone is willing to answer questions about the animals we have here. I love the magical moments we get to create for our guests as well—including diving in the tank to wave hello to our guests.
Q. How can guests help preserve our Marine life?
Cleaning up after yourself at the beach. The biggest impact is our environmental footprint. Starting off small and helping where you can be impactful. We need to make sure that we all throw our trash away so the animals aren’t ingesting anything harmful. The coral reefs start with animals. When there’s no animals, there’s no coral reefs. It’s a domino effect to everything else in the ocean.
If guests want to make an impact here at Disney Parks, they can donate to Disney’s Conversation Fund. This global initiative helps fund projects to preserve marine wildlife, to educate and to help preserve ecosystems and everything around them.
All the animals in the tank are trained to feed with specific targets. We spoke with aquarist Amy Jo, who explained the process.
Q. How are animals in the tank trained to feed?
When our animals arrive, we begin their training in a smaller environment and associate a specific target with their food. They know that once they come into the larger environment, that this target belongs to them, and this is how they are going to get food.
Q. What steps do you take when feeding the animals?
We have a variety of different targets for different animals. Each target has a hole drilled in the middle and we feed the animals through the hole. While they are eating, we do a full body wellness exam and make sure they are getting the right amount of nutrients and staying healthy.
You can see Brett, Amy Jo, and other animal experts at The Seas with Nemo & Friends at EPCOT taking care of both our marine life and guests. Dive on over to learn more about the aquarium, tours and more!
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