Port of Iona · Pitu’paq / Bras d’Or Lake · Unama’ki / Cape Breton Island
Discovery Centre reopens in June 2027
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Port of Iona, 2583 St. Columba Road, Iona, NS
Admission by donation · Open June to October
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Our Story and Our Work
One Lake. Many Relationships.
Àros na Mara is a community-rooted initiative at the Port of Iona, operated by the not-for-profit Central Cape Breton Community Ventures Inc. Through the Discovery Centre, the shoreline, youth involvement, underwater observation and relationships around Pitu’paq / the Bras d’Or Lake, we are creating a place where people can discover the Lake, learn from it and connect with its future.
A Port worth keeping. A promise still being fulfilled.
The work of Àros na Mara grows from a longstanding community commitment to keep the Port of Iona useful, accessible and connected to the community. Today that promise continues: welcoming people to the Port and Pitu’paq, connecting partner-led science and learning with the public, creating opportunities for youth, and strengthening stewardship and community benefit.
Discovery leads to connection.
Connection can create responsibility.
Responsibility becomes stewardship.
How Àros na Mara began
The 1990s
The idea that became Àros na Mara began in the 1990s, through early conversations about marine science, learning and community development around the Bras d’Or Lake. Tim Lambert, a retired Fisheries and Oceans Canada marine scientist, and the late Chief Charlie Dennis of Eskasoni were important early voices, shaping the concept and recognizing Iona as a place with real potential. Charlie placed particular emphasis on the quality of the water, responsible care of marine life and the principle that we should always “do what is best for the fish.” The idea broadened through community, Mi’kmaw, stewardship and institutional discussions, including the Grand Narrows and District Board of Trade and the endorsement of the Bras d’Or Lake Stewardship Society, before being taken forward by the newly formed Central Cape Breton Community Ventures Inc. (CCBCVI) in 1999.
2000s
Central Cape Breton Community Ventures Inc. (CCBCVI) carried the early vision forward, supported by community leaders, volunteers and scientific advisors. On 22 December 2000, the federal government transferred the Port of Iona to CCBCVI. Dr. Bruce G. Hatcher, Cape Breton University Chair in Marine Ecosystem Research, played an important role in shaping its scientific direction, including the 2007 Àros na Mara Prospectus, which brought together marine research, education and tourism.
Equally important was the community’s continuing commitment to the Port of Iona. Over the following years, CCBCVI and its volunteers worked to sustain the Port as a public asset, pursue improvements, build relationships and support activities that connected people with the Bras d’Or Lake. Progress was not always highly visible, but the commitment remained, providing the foundation for what Àros na Mara is becoming today.
Renewed momentum: 2024 to today
Momentum grew in June 2024 when representatives of Nova Scotia universities and NSCC came together at Iona. Dalhousie’s growing involvement through Dr. Doug Wallace and a June 2025 visit by Professor Nick Owens of the Scottish Association for Marine Science helped broaden these relationships. Waters Flowing Together in October 2025 and the Discovery Centre’s twinning with SAMS’ Ocean Explorer Centre opened further opportunities for learning and exchange.
Today, the Discovery Centre, Ocean Week and World Oceans Day, youth involvement and growing scientific and community partnerships are bringing new life to that longstanding vision. Plans for the Living Shore and Marine Trails, alongside participation in the emerging Pitu’paq Living Lab, point toward further opportunities for public learning, research and stewardship.
Throughout this journey, volunteers have kept both the vision and its promise alive. Several people involved from the early days remain active, while new volunteers and younger participants are helping shape the next chapter. What began as a community vision is gradually becoming a place where people, science, culture and the Lake come together.
The layers of this place
Pitu’paq / the Bras d’Or Lake has been home to many relationships over time.
Mi’kmaq
The oldest are Mi’kmaw. Àros na Mara is located in Unama’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq, whose communities have longstanding relationships with Pitu’paq and its watershed.
Gaelic
Gaelic culture, stories and language have shaped Iona for generations. Next door, Baile nan Gàidheal / Highland Village is an important place to experience and learn about that heritage.
Acadian
Acadian families and communities have also long been part of life around Pitu’paq / the Bras d’Or Lake.
These histories and relationships are distinct, and each should be interpreted with care and with the appropriate people involved.
Stewardship
Learning from more than one way of knowing
Àros na Mara is learning from Two-Eyed Seeing, or Etuaptmumk, the guiding principle brought forward by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall: seeing with the strengths of Indigenous knowledge and of Western science together. How we represent and apply it will continue to develop with appropriate Mi’kmaw guidance.
The practical question underneath it: what is changing in Pitu’paq, how do we know, and how can communities respond?
Current activities include youth involvement in shoreline activities and stewardship, and BlueROV2 habitat and biodiversity observation.
Youth and learning
Young people take part in interpretation, science communication, shoreline activities, media, events and stewardship, and the Youth Advisory Council helps shape programming.
Schools and groups can arrange visits through Plan Your Visit.
Plan Your Visit →Research
Research and the working Port
The Port of Iona gives Àros na Mara a real place where learning, shoreline access, underwater observation and partner-led field activity meet. We are not a stand-alone research institution: we provide place, access, community connection and interpretation, while researchers bring scientific expertise, methods and oversight.
The Port connects the Discovery Centre, seasonal Café, outdoor picnic areas and shoreline. A weather station at the wharf shares local conditions with residents and a Central Cape Breton weather website.
BlueROV2 underwater filming, habitat and biodiversity observation, route documentation, youth learning and science/stewardship activity.
Developing Living Shore learning and monitoring; the emerging, multi-partner Pitu’paq Living Lab; possible science-tourism and citizen-science activities with partners.
Partners and relationships
Relationships make the work possible.
SAMS Ocean Explorer Centre
Our Discovery Centre is formally twinned with the SAMS Ocean Explorer Centre in Scotland, an active relationship built around mutual learning.
Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere Region Association
We work with the Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere Region Association on learning, research and stewardship, including discussions about an emerging Pitu’paq Living Lab. The roles within that work are still developing.
CEPI, CEPI Youth and youth involvement
Our relationship with the Collaborative Environmental Planning Initiative (CEPI) and CEPI Youth has developed through stewardship, public learning, youth engagement and events around Pitu’paq.
Àros na Mara has twice been recognized by CEPI with its Community Golden Award, in 2016 and 2023.
Youth involvement is also increasingly being built into our own work through the Àros na Mara Youth Advisory Council, helping bring younger voices into planning, learning and future programming.
Cape Breton University and Dalhousie
Our connection with Cape Breton University continues through Dr. Hatcher and student participation.
Relationships with Dalhousie researchers and students, including Dr. Doug Wallace, are growing through Ocean Week, Waters Flowing Together and Ocean Frontier Institute–supported activity.
Baile nan Gàidheal / Highland Village
Highland Village is part of the wider Iona story and an important relationship for Àros na Mara. Together, the two sites offer complementary ways of experiencing the culture, people, working waterfront and natural setting of Iona.
Trans Canada Trail
Our relationship with Trans Canada Trail supports public access and helps connect the Port of Iona and Àros na Mara to the wider trail network.
Questions people ask
What does Àros na Mara mean?
Àros na Mara is Scottish Gaelic for “House of the Sea,” a nod to the Gaelic language and culture that have shaped Iona for generations.
Who runs Àros na Mara?
Àros na Mara is a community-rooted initiative operated by Central Cape Breton Community Ventures Inc., a not-for-profit organization. It is not government-owned or government-operated.
Who does Àros na Mara work with?
Relationships include a formal twinning with the SAMS Ocean Explorer Centre in Scotland, collaboration with the Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere Region Association, researchers and students from Cape Breton University and Dalhousie University, and neighbours such as Baile nan Gàidheal / Highland Village.
Be part of it
Àros na Mara has grown one relationship at a time. Visit us at the Port of Iona, bring a class, explore a collaboration, share an idea or help support what comes next.