I observed a seal experience happen today at the Seaquarium. A mother and her child came to the Seaquarium during the morning for the experience they had booked with the harbour seals.
To begin, Gemma the marine mammal trainer went through all the health and safety procedures with the boy who was taking part. He had been to one previously, but it was still important to refresh his memory to make sure he, Gemma and the seals were all kept safe during the experience. Gemma gave the boy a life jacket to wear and checked that he was wearing appropriate safe shoes to wear by the slippery pool.
During the experience the boy stood on the beach by the harbour seal pool. He stood behind a wooden table which held a bucket of fish for him to feed to the seals. As he was feeding the seals, Gemma taught him several training techniques. One of these included getting the seals to hold their noses at the target stick, then rewarding them with fish. This is called positive reinforcement which is the way the trainers at the Seaquarium also train the seals themselves. If the seals doesn’t behave well, or ignores an instruction they are not punished for it whatsoever. Once the training and feed had been completed. The boy was able to pose for some photographs before he left.
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