Youth Camp Features Creatures

A group of students learned the fishy facts of marine biology this week at a summer science program sponsored by the Orange County Marine Institute.

The weeklong Marine Institute for Youths is a new program that provided 24 budding marine biologists age 12 to 15 intensive hands-on activities in marine science. The program focuses on biology, the impact humans have on marine life and curatorial sciences, the study of the care of living creatures for educational, entertainment or research purposes. Participants also handled homework, lectures and science lab work, said Harry Helling, the institute’s associate executive director.

“There’s a lot of neat stuff in this program,” he said. “Each thread helps these young marine students weave an understanding of marine life as they work side by side with top-notch scientists and educators.”

On Wednesday, the junior scientists visited the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge at the Dana Point Harbor. There, they surveyed marine life, counting mussels, sea hares and snails with two scientific devices called a random point quadrant and transect.

The campers are also scheduled to conduct beach studies at Crystal Cove State Park and visit both Sea World and the Stephen Birch Aquarium-Museum at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.

The students, most of whom are from Southern California, were chosen from a pool of nearly 100 applicants. The marine institute had planned only one session, but demand was so great that a second camp, which starts next week, has been added.

Michelle McCullagh, 14, of Rancho Santa Margarita applied for the program because she is interested in pursuing a career in marine science.

“I always wanted to become a marine biologist,” she said. “And it seemed like a lot of fun.”