Fishcare Melbourne and MPW partnering up at the Dandenong Market

As part of the Summer by the Sea program, we teamed up with Coastcare Victoria and Connie’s Collectables to provide an interactive display at the Dandenong Market. Our stall was enabling people who frequent the Dandenong Market, to experience the value of Port Phillip Bay without travelling to the beach or “by the sea”.

The Coastcare trailer provided a large display of various artifacts from around Port Phillip Bay such as fossils, shark eggs, dried anemones, sand and Fishcare’s Smooth Stingray anatomy puzzle.

Our Port Phillip Facilitator Jacinta ran 5 fish dissections throughout the day to teach anatomy to the people at the market. Things that commonly surprised people were the size of the heart in comparison to the rest of the fish’s anatomy as well as how much space the swim bladder took up. For every demonstration, there were always a few children who wanted her
to remove the eyeball so they could have a closer look. We were able to get so many people to the trailer and to the dissection sessions with the enthusium and help from Roberto from Connies Collectables.

Connies produce collectable swap cards that illustrate themes of social, environmental and historic importance. In their collection, they have also a set of cards for Fishcare Victoria.

This is the 5th year we have been able to run this unique program at the Dandenong Markets, and we look forward to continue partnering up with Coastcare Victoria and Connies Collectables to continue running this event (hopefully more frequently and in more areas!).