Since the early 1970's, MAREX, located on Skidaway Island near Savannah, has operated marine-related environmental education for students from elementary school through college levels and beyond. The facility has a teaching aquarium, laboratories, a distance learning classroom, touch tanks, an exhibit gallery, a nature trail, a dormitory and a cafeteria. The primary mission of MAREX is marine education and teaching environmental stewardship.
MAREX offers such diverse courses as "Intro to the Georgia Coast," "Introduction to Fish," "Coastal Reptiles," "Whale Tales," and "Archaeology of the Georgia Coast." Also offered are hands-on labs in the touch tanks, invertebrate lab and plankton lab. Field studies are conducted in the marshes, on the barrier islands and on the Sea Dawg, a 45-foot lobster boat converted into a trawler. In addition, summer camps are offered.
The aquarium, nature trails and picnic area are open to the public. Don't forget, if you're walking along the beach and see a horseshoe crab on its back, gently flip him over and save a life. (I learned that at the aquarium!)
For more information or to request a booklet, call, e-mail or write:
The University of Georgia Marine Extension Service
30 Ocean Science Circle
Savannah, GA 31411
912-598-2496
mared@uga.edu
http://www.marsci.uga.edu/EXT/MAREX.HTML
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Sue and Jim Graham, Immediate Past President of Staff Council,
at the annual Public Service and Outreach Staff Representative Group meeting
held annually at MAREX.
At the Marine Education Center and Aquarium on Skidaway Island, two people take care of the aquarium facility. These are the Curator (Pete Schlein) and the Assistant Curator (myself). I have a B.S. in Zoology with a concentration in Marine Biology, and a master's degree in Marine Biology. Regardless of one's education, working in any aquarium requires much on-the-job training. In the year and a half that I've been working here, I've learned basic electrical work, carpentry, and plumbing, as well as how to care for the fish in our aquarium and the support systems we use (filters, blowers, etc.). Since the beginning of September, I have been enjoying the opportunity to raise a Loggerhead sea turtle hatchling. As an aquarist, I am on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and have found myself at work to feed the fish on holidays such as Christmas and Memorial Day. Most of the work done by aquarists is not seen by the public eye. Yet, we cannot hide any of our mistakes!
I enjoy working at a facility as small as this one. I have the pleasure each morning of walking through our aquarium to check on all the fishes (and other creatures) that we have. Each animal has its own personality and behavior, and it is very easy to observe when one of our "children" isn't feeling well. In larger aquariums, such as The Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, the aquarium is separated into departments, where aquarists specialized in certain areas work within those specific departments. I feel lucky to know all the creatures in our aquarium.
We feed the fish three times a week, and some fish have special needs or tastes. Our sheepshead, Scooter, for example, will only eat chopped up pieces of shrimp, ignoring pieces of fish. Rosco the octopus has a taste for shrimp even though octopuses usually enjoy feasting on crab. Watching an octopus attack a live crab is fascinating. Rosco, however, made it very clear to us at a young age that he did not want crab. The first time we threw one in his tank, he picked it up, "walked" it over to the other side of the tank, and spit it out. Some animals, such as the nurse shark, Crash, and our previous loggerhead sea turtle, Sebastian, must be hand-fed with large tweezers because they can't compete well with the other fish in their tanks.
We also have a "begging" spiny lobster, Clifford, who generally meets us at the top of the tank demanding his fish fillet.
To add excitement to our day, sometimes fish jump from tank to tank. Usually, the fish will land in the neighboring tank, or if they're not so lucky, they land on the floor. One day we realized our whitebone porgy, Hooper, had successfully completed a double tank jump, which landed him in the tank with our 4-foot nurse shark. Fortunately, we realized this before the shark was able to snack on Hooper. Hooper was returned to his home tank, and is still alive and well.
One of the most unique experiences I've had on the job was to help the Southern Company take pictures of our loggerhead sea turtle for their financial report. My boss and I coaxed the turtle into cooperating for a group of photographers one morning. As one can imagine, shooting a subject of nature requires much patience, and even more luck. Fortunately, in the end, we did wind up with a suitable picture for the report.
I enjoy working at this facility because I feel it serves as a very important educational tool for teaching students of all ages as well as the general public. Our aquarium is not huge, nor do we have exotic fishes on exhibit, but we still hear "oohs and aahs" from the children and adults who pass through the aquarium.
I believe our education program is a strong one. It offers schools from Georgia and neighboring states the opportunity to get hands-on experience in a salt water marsh, on the Sea Dawg, hiking across Wassaw Island, and in our labs. In my opinion, the best way to let individuals gain respect for their environment is to let them experience nature face to face: to inhale the salty air from the sea or the sulfur smell from the salt marsh, to feel what it's like to be out on a boat all day or to get muddy in the marsh, to hear the sounds of coastal birds, the wind and the waves, and to see what types of plants and animals live beneath the water's surface.
All of the educators at this facility are tremendously dedicated to their jobs. None of us works here for the money alone. It is an honor to work with such a dynamic group of people who approach their work with genuine affection.
There is one main drawback to being far away from the main University of Georgia campus. I do not feel that the main campus community understands what we do, how many students we reach, the intense commitment that each of us here has toward our jobs, and just how important our program is in our community. Our impact cannot be measured by dollars. The primary goal of this program is to educate people of all ages, with hopes to positively affect how they understand and treat the environment. In my mind, to observe the excited look on a child's or adult's face who is seeing a live shrimp for the first time fulfills me, and that is priceless.
I'm a marine education specialist with a background in hard science. My job focuses on teaching students from Pre-K through college. I also supervise interns and volunteers, write grants, do research and develop new classes.
Each day on Skidaway is an adventure. When the hydraulic system on the boat broke down one day, I joined six other people to pull in the trawl net by hand. Other fun or unusual things I have done in the line of duty include pulling students out of the marsh mud (and getting pulled out myself!) and identifying fish, snakes, and turtles brought in by local residents. Designing alternate activities at the last minute on a rainy day can also be a challenging task.
The best part of my job is having a wonderful crew of personnel to work with and spending a great deal of time outdoors. Working with a variety of age groups really keeps me on my toes! One disadvantage to working at Skidaway is the prevalence of SAND GNATS. I have learned to cope by covering myself from head to toe with netting! One disadvantage of working off campus is we do not have ready access to on-site computer support. That can be a real bummer when you happen to be a computer jinx!
Working at Skidaway is a unique and rewarding experience. We have a casual work environment (with few meetings), live in a rural setting and are close to the water. The job is so much fun and we all enjoy working and sweating together! We have a great group of people and I wouldn't want to work anywhere else.
Marsh at Skidaway