Bristol Aquarium is a leading visitor attraction and is in the heart of Bristol located on the famous Harbourside.

We are now in our peak season and are looking to recruit seasonal staff from May to the first week in November 2012.

The Role

This is an excellent opportunity to be part of the Finance Team within our Aquarium.  We are looking for a seasonal Finance Assistant to support the permanent finance team in taking responsibility for the cash in the attraction.  Throughout your shift you will ensure safe and secure handling of cash, perform cash lifts and issue floats in the morning.  Other responsibilities include reconciling and processing of cash and sales journals and purchase ledger administration on a timely, accurate and consistent basis.

The Requirements

You need to be organised, a hard worker and security conscious.  Preferably you will have at least 1 year’s previous experience of working in an accounts environment/cash office ideally within a customer facing organisation.

Essential skills for this role are accuracy, attention to detail and the ability to use your initiative.  In addition you will need to be self-motivated, a good communicator and able to work as part of a team.

Microsoft Excel is a key software package for the role and therefore you should be experienced and be confident using this as part of your day to day duties.  It would be advantageous if you had an understanding and experience in using an accounting package, ideally Sage 200.

You will need to be available a minimum of 2 days per week in order for you to cover the permanent cashier’s days off as well as cover any sickness and holiday periods.

This post is hourly paid and complies with national minimum wage.

To apply, please send your up-to-date CV, a completed version of this application form and a covering letter to: Janeen Pickup, Group HR Manager, c/o Blue Planet Aquarium, Cheshire Oaks, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, CH65 9LF or email: recruitment@asprouk.com

Closing date for applicants – is Thursday, 10^th May 2012

Bristol Aquarium is committed to Equal Opportunities

We do recognize the time and effort it takes to apply for a position, but as an employer of choice we receive a high volume of applications and in the interests of economy, Aspro UK does not notify candidates who have been unsuccessful in their application; consequently if you have not heard from us within 4 weeks of the closing date, please assume that you have not been successful on this occasion.

Aquarist – CLICK HERE

Application Form – CLICK HERE

A grouper fish which outgrew its tank has been given a spacious new home at Bristol Aquarium.
The fish, which measures close to half-a-metre in length, was donated to the Harbourside wildlife attraction from an aquatic shop in Gloucestershire.
Nelson, as he is known, is a yellowfin grouper and, after spending time in quarantine, he has now gone on display in the aquarium reef tank alongside a variety of exotic species including moray eels.
A highly colourful coral reef fish, the yellowfin grouper is found throughout the western Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Coloration can vary from a light brown to an intense red. Often found in shallow waters during cooler periods, the yellowfin grouper feeds in and around the coral reefs.
Bristol Aquarium curator, Dan de Castro, said: “Nelson is an excellent specimen and could eventually double in size. We were contacted by the shopkeeper who felt he was growing too large for his tank and wanted to find him a permanent new home.
“He is extremely friendly and has a very relaxed personality. Now he is on display we have got him to accept his food from a stick which means we are able to target feed him.
“As well as ensuring that he gets the right amount of food, target feeding also helps to ensure that he doesn’t steal food from the other fish he shares his new reef tank home with,” he added.
In the wild yellowfin grouper are a popular food fish and there is some concern about their long-term future and they are officially classified as being ‘Near Threatened’.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ‘Near Threatened’ is a conservation status assigned to species that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future.

Bristol Aquarium has an exciting opportunity for the right person to join our Front of House Team

Do you have the ability to hold an audience and have a ‘presence’?

Do you have a confident and enthusiastic nature?

Are you efficient at working within a team, imaginative and have an enthusiasm for offering an outstanding visitor experience?

Then please read on…!

Key Duties will include:
• To play a pro-active role in delivering themed shows, talks and school visits through entertainment and performance.
• To be approachable, friendly, knowledgeable and engaging when dealing with customers
• To encourage audience participation
• To present all the Bristol Aquarium animals to our customers.
• To provide a high-class level of customer service.
• To deliver and host exciting birthday parties and face-painting duties.
• To deliver a smooth and professional reception/till operation including promoting sales of guidebooks and Bristol Aquarium membership.
• To ensure the smooth operation of all retail areas, promoting the sale of all retail goods.

Remuneration complies with National Minimum Wage.

The hours will be up to full time in the summer with reduced hours in the winter. The role will often involve working weekends/bank holidays and school holidays

Please submit your CV and a covering letter to: Mark Simmons, Operations Manager, Bristol Aquarium at marks@bristolaquarium.co.uk

Bristol Aquarium is an Equal Opportunities Employer.

Closing date: 17th May 2012

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CATERING ASSISTANT

Bristol Aquarium has an exciting opportunity to join our café team as a catering assistant working throughout the year, including weekends and public holidays. The hours will be up to full time in the summer with reduced hours in the winter. National Minimum Wage rate payable.

Are you efficient at working within a team, motivated and hard working? We’d like you to assist in the running of our Café in an efficient manner, offering excellent customer service, maximising sales and complying with all hygiene rules and regulations.

Key duties:
• To prepare food to the highest quality, following all health and safety and hygiene procedures.
• To assist in opening and closing the outlets in accordance with procedures.
• To acknowledge visitors and offer excellent customer service at all times.
• To maintain a safe and clean kitchen, servery and seating area at all times.
• To help deliver Birthday Parties.
• To have complete product knowledge of the exhibits, talks and all commercial activity including retail and catering.
• To work as per the rota that may include evening hours to assist with late opening of the aquarium.

Post requirement:
• Excellent timekeeping and attendance.
• A positive and enthusiastic nature
• Fully flexible all year round for weekends and holidays.
• Experience working in a café environment is desirable but not essential.

Please submit your CV and a covering letter to: Mark Simmons, Operations Manager, at marks@bristolaquarium.co.uk

Closing date 17th May 2012

Bristol Aquarium is an Equal Opportunities Employer

Aquarists at Bristol Aquarium were forced to don rubber gauntlets as they carefully welcomed their newest arrival – a metre-long electric eel.

The extra precautions were necessary as the South American eel is capable of delivering a 600 volt shock – almost three times the power of a UK wall socket.

The eel, who has been nicknamed Bolt, could potentially double in size and weigh up to 20kgs when fully grown.

Bristol Aquarium’s David Waines said: “Bolt is very lively and our aquarists had to take all precautions to ensure they weren’t harmed while he was being transferred into his new display.

“In addition to rubber gloves and rubber-soled shoes, he was also placed inside a large plastic bag for the move which thankfully went smoothly.

“He’s also incredibly agile and can even swim backwards which potentially makes him an extremely slippery customer,” he added.

The freshwater predators have around 200,000 specialised cells – known as electrocytes – which can store electricity like tiny batteries.

They use their extraordinary electrical abilities both to stun prey and to protect themselves from attack in the murky waters of the Amazon and Orinoco basins in South America.

As well as fish, the eels also feed on birds and small mammals and have to come to the surface regularly to breathe.

The eels have very poor eyesight and instead rely on a low level electrical force which they use like a radar to navigate and track their prey.

Despite its name the electric eel is actually thought to be more closely related to freshwater carp and catfish.

The shock from an electric eel has been known to knock a horse off its feet and although human fatalities are incredibly rare, it is thought that multiple shocks could induce respiratory or heart failure.

In a Japanese aquarium the eel’s electrical discharge was even harnessed to light up a Christmas tree.

“Thankfully we have our own back-up generator on site so we won’t have to be relying on Bolt to keep the lights on in case of a power cut,” added David.

Monday-Friday – 10am-4pm – last entry at 3pm
Saturday & Sunday – 10am-5pm – last entry at 4pm

Your entry ticket will last all day so you can come & go as you please!

For more information please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0117 929 8929.

The fearless Father Christmas braved shark-infested tropical waters at the Harbourside attraction to bring a bit of seasonal goodwill to all men (and fish).

The sub-aquatic Saint Nick shared the giant tropical ocean display with a variety of sharks, rays and hundreds of brightly coloured reef fish.

Bristol Aquarium’s David Waines said: “Submerged in a giant fish tank surrounded by curious sharks may not be the first place you’d expect to encounter Father Christmas.

“It just goes to show there really isn’t anywhere Santa can’t go – and it’s certainly a lot warmer than the North Pole!

“We’re not sure if it’s because of his bright red coat but the sharks and other fish did seem to be rather curious and about the new arrival and tended to follow him around the display which made for some spectacularly close encounters for Santa,” he added.

The aquarium will also be offering visitors a temporary escape from the wintry weather with a special Caribbean Christmas event over the festive period.

The Harbourside attraction has decided to forego the traditional English Christmas themes of ice and snow and elected instead to transport their festivities to warmer climes.

A medley of steel drum Christmas carols will be playing and younger visitors will be able to their hand at some Caribbean Christmas decoration making.

The aquarium is also setting up a 12 Fishy Days of Christmas trail around the displays. Based on the famous yuletide rhyme, the fishy version includes everything from ‘a puffer fish in a coral tree’ to ‘seven seahorse swimming’!

Based on the award-winning television series of the same name, the book is Jeremy’s first-hand account of travelling the world in search of the planet’s most extraordinary freshwater fish – including man-eating catfish, bullsharks, giant eels and super-piranhas.

Originally from Suffolk, Jeremy, 53, now lives just outside Bath and has a degree in zoology from Bristol University.

“I don’t see myself as a particularly expert angler, but what I am able to do is get into the kinds of places where outsiders don’t normally go, with enough energy left to put a line in the water,” he said.

“Teaming up with local fishermen is vital to success, and what’s great about this approach is that you get to see beneath the surface of diverse human cultures too,” he added.

His first overseas trip was to the mountain rivers of India in 1982, and since then he has increasingly spent his time tracking down large and little-known fish in rivers around the world – particularly in the Congo and Amazon rainforests.

During his career he has achieved a number of notable ‘firsts’. These include filming a large mystery creature in an Amazon lake, dubbed ‘the Amazon Nessie’ by BBC Wildlife magazine, and getting the first underwater footage with cameraman Rick Rosenthal of the ‘Giant Devil Catfish’ in India.

In between catching fish, he has also caught malaria, been detained as a suspected spy, narrowly escaped drowning, been threatened at gunpoint, and survived a plane crash.

Bristol Aquarium’s David Waines said: “It was great to have a chance to meet up with Jeremy and to listen to some of his amazing stories.

“Our curator was particularly fascinated to hear about his experiences with some of the truly giant fish of the Amazon – and fortunately for us he left his fishing rod at home!” he added.

Since opening in 2009 the Harbourside aquarium has welcomed hundreds of thousands of people through its doors.

This year has seen a significant rise in visitor figures and bosses are planning a series of new initiatives to continue that growth in the new year.

Bristol Aquarium Park Director David Waines said: ““Our aim is to continually develop and improve the visitor experience and to create a world-class aquarium in the heart of Bristol.

“In response to feedback we have received from visitors we will be building on the success of our talks and feeding programmes to offer the public an even more interactive and personalised visit in 2012.

“This year we also welcomed more than 11,000 schoolchildren to the aquarium, more than double the previous year.

“We are looking to significantly increase those numbers again next year and will be working closely with local schools and educational groups to ensure we deliver a first class visit for youngsters of all ages,” he added.

In addition to providing a more interactive experience for visitors, the aquarium has also been reviewing the use of IMAX in its cinema.

“We are currently compiling our strategy for the next three years and have been looking at the IMAX operation and assessing its contribution to our business,” said David.

“As the IMAX brand is increasingly moving away from documentaries and into mainstream Hollywood movies we no longer believe it fits in to our ambitious plans and we have therefore taken the decision to stop screening IMAX films.

“Once again we would like to thank everybody for their support in 2011 and to underline our 100% commitment to the city of Bristol in the years ahead,” added David.

Built over two floors with a series of separate themed habitats and more than 50 amazing displays, Bristol Aquarium also features two underwater walkthrough tunnels, open-top tanks and a Learning Lab to explore.

The centrepiece of the aquarium is the giant Coral Seas display where visitors can enjoy the closest of undersea encounters with tropical sharks and rays in an underwater walk-through tunnel, via a two-metre concave bubble display and a massive floor-to-ceiling acrylic viewing window.

Among the ‘monsters’ on display will be wolf fish, reputed to be Britain’s ugliest fish, the world’s biggest octopus species and venomous lion fish.

Interactive displays and special sea monster themed talks will provide more information about famous tales of the deep and a fact trail will feature monstrous myths and legends throughout history, infamous hoaxes, cases of mistaken identity and even modern reports of sea monsters.

Other activities on offer to younger visitors throughout the week include monster mask making, beastly story tours, terrifying touchboxes and competitions.

Bristol Aquarium’s Mike Coe said: “The idea of sea monsters has both fascinated and horrified humans since the dawn of time.

“This exhibition will be a mixture of real sea monsters – like the giant Pacific octopus – as well as stories of sea monsters through the ages from biblical times, through to Greek and Roman mythology and medieval myths.

“Even today there are hundreds of reported sea monster sightings each year and, as the mysterious depths of the oceans are gradually explored, more and more amazing creatures previously unknown to science are being discovered.

“In fact some of these new discoveries are weirder than even the most incredible of sea monster stories!”