Marine Science Education and Research Center

  "I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, - except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came." - President John F. Kennedy

Students, faculty, staff and visitors to the University Campus of the University of New England in Biddeford have long felt the tug of the sea as they stand on the shores at the mouth of the Saco River looking out over waters entering the Gulf of Maine.
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Reflection of a diver in a tidal pool.
Over the years, the University’s marine science and environmental programs have attracted a body of faculty and students dedicated to exploring mysteries of the sea and human relationships to marine environment.

Taking advantage of its natural and human resources, the University of New England built its new Marine Science Education and Research Center, which opened September 2001. It is the only facility of its kind anywhere, giving researchers a unique opportunity to create important new knowledge in marine science, the environment and human health. This state-of-the-art facility truly provides a window to the sea.

Through the scientific study of marine organisms inhabiting the Gulf of Maine, University and other researchers will come to a better understanding of our relationship to the sea and the ocean environment’s direct link to human health and economic prosperity in the New England region.

The likely benefits of this unique brand of interdisciplinary research will be important new knowledge in areas as diverse as treatment techniques for rehabilitating injured and sick marine animals, equipment and techniques for commercial fishing and aquaculture, the development of new medicines from the sea, and the conservation and preservation of biodiversity in the Gulf of Maine.
A New Dimension: Running Seawater
The Marine Science Education and Research Center is critical to helping the University educate marine and environmental professionals who will go on to work at scientific laboratories, start their own entrepreneurial businesses, and work in commercial industries throughout the state and region.

The obvious fundamental advantage to the new Marine Science Education and Research Center is that with two teaching flow-through seawater laboratories our faculty and students can run labs and house animals in a way they never could before. Students are now able to work with animals in the field and bring them back to the center for observation.

Marine Mammal Rehabilitation
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A classroom in the Marine Science Education and Research Center .

One wing of the Marine Science Education and Research Center houses a Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center . The facility, which is part of a network of centers authorized by the National Marine Fisheries Service to rescue and rehabilitate stranded marine mammals, provides unique research opportunities. The facility not only allows rescue and rehabilitation, but also research in developing the most effective means of rehabilitating marine mammals, and research on the causes of marine mammal mortality and the state of the marine environment.

Aquaculture and Aquarium Science
A new program that the Marine Science Education and Research Center is making possible is a major in aquaculture and aquarium science. This program is designed to prepare students for careers in the growth and marketing of marine and freshwater organisms and for work with aquariums in maintaining the health and viability of their collections. The program emphasizes the science, art and economic components of these fields.


Environmental Education

The Marine Science Education and Research Center also enables students and faculty to develop marine science and environmental education programs.

Students who are education majors or students who are in environmental science but who want to go into environmental education will be utilizing the center for teaching the public – children and adults - about marine mammals, about the Gulf of Maine, about environmental problems, about pollutants in the water. The center will be bringing a lot of education to the community and the school.

   
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