Junior Explorers Enjoy Hands-On Marine Lesson

Although it is technically spring recess, eight elementary schoolers visiting Cedar Beach Marina this week enjoyed a full and fun lesson about sea life and the ecosystem of the Great South Bay.

The children, ages nine to 10 years old, enjoyed a program at the Sport Fishing Education Center designed to teach students about the unique Long Island marine environment. But it seemed the students didn't get the memo that learning has to be passive.

Shouts of "It's alive!" and "Watch out!" rang out as they raced around the marsh behind the center building on Ocean Parkway. The girls and boys, some in hip-high waders, collected mussel shells, tiny killifish, and shrimp while avoiding the ubiquitous jellyfish.

Instructor and marine biologist Tracy Marcus deftly inserted important facts into the fun, as she explained the role mussels play filtering the bay water and the high levels of pollution, and pointed out a jellyfish in the act of digesting a fish, which met with a mixed reaction of amazement and a chorus of "ewwww."

"It's not just running around out here," Marcus noted. "The idea is that it's educational and they learn something."

Arthur Edwin, 10, of West Babylon was there with his mother Dawn Edwin, who said she started taking Arthur to programs as a preschooler.

"They really love the hands-on exploration and touching all the sea life in the touch tanks," Edwin said. "They really enjoy the summer camp, too."

While Noah and Marcus Fernandez, 9 and 10, from Babylon, pored over the contents they helped seine from the bay and collected shells to bring home, their grandmother Dolores said this was the first time they visited the center.

"We found it online, and I brought them since their mother is home with a new baby," Fernandez said.

After visiting the salt marsh, the kids checked out the center's classroom tanks, and excitedly handled the starfish and horseshoe crabs in the touch tanks. A freshwater tank designed to mimic Babylon area ponds and lakes like Belmont Lake housed native fish.

The center, run by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, also holds a week-long summer camp for children ages six through 12, and programs for adults. Marcus, a former science teacher, also runs programs for preschoolers and visits Long Island schools with traveling exhibitions of marine life.