Katy and Colin open Chamber Expo 2017 highlighting The Deep's conservation work

Katy Duke and Colin Brown officially open Chamber Expo 2017 watched by Chamber President Phil Ascough and cheered on by Town Crier Michael Wood. Picture: Alistair J Hooper Photography.

CHAMBER Expo 2017 was hailed another resounding success as its impressive mix of showspace and networking filled the Costello Stadium in Hull for the second consecutive year.

THE annual event was officially opened by The Deep’s new Chief Executive Katy Duke and her predecessor Colin Brown who toured the exhibition before giving a fascinating insight into the little known conservation work of The Deep which has won it international acclaim on the world stage.

In the 16 years since it opened, The Deep has become a “conservation icon” and has formed many partnerships, perhaps most notably with the Cousteau family, which makes it the only aquarium that The Cousteau Foundation recognises as being worthwhile working with.

Katy said she was very proud to be taking over as The Deep’s Chief Executive and highlighted to guests some of its conservation work which includes involvement with leading charities and monitoring and adding to the Red List of species in danger.

The Deep welcomes 450,000 visitors per year, and interestingly, only seven per cent of those visits are made by Hull residents. The aquarium employs 160 people, while the business centre is home to 46 businesses which between them employ 260 people and is proud of its very low failure rate.

Corporate events are another of its many and varied attractions, and breakfast meetings, gala dinners are among the events it can stage, all against the backdrop of penguins and fish, which help to keep Hull on the map.

Colin Brown, whose background was in tourism with Hull City Council before The Deep, which became in the last 16 years the most successful of the Millennium Projects, talked about some of the city’s successes on the tourism front, and looked forward to the forthcoming Cruise Terminal which is planned to be developed near The Deep. Colin said his initial concerns about parking had subsided after seeing the plans, but the development may still be five years away.

Adam Fowler, from The Environment Forum, paid tribute to Colin and his team for having the belief, vision and drive to create the country’s most successful Millennium Project which he described as an amazing achievement.

Katy said it was great to see people in Hull being proud of their city and said she wants to get the conservation message across to everyone, because not enough people here realise how internationally important The Deep is today – and it is leading the world.

She explained that fish are sourced from colleagues around the world and through captive breeding programmes to maintain a good gene pool, but the focus is always on sustainable collection methods. The Deep is able to track many of its fish back to where they came from, almost to a specific co-ordinate.

As for her ambitions for the future, she said she wants to keep the momentum going by bringing international conferences to Hull, as they did in 2005. They are currently bidding to host a European Conference to be held at The Deep which would bring more than 200 delegates to the city.

“After 2017, we have to keep culture high on the agenda”, she said.

The Chief Executive of the LEP, Kishor Tailor, congratulated Katy on her new role, and said: “We don’t shout loudly enough about what we have in this area. We need to push the international market and use these opportunities to promote “the place”.

Chamber Expo 2017 was sponsored by Stratstone Hull and Together Finance.

Katy Duke and Colin Brown at discuss The Deep's success during the Chamber Expo 2017 lunch.