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Time sure flies when you’re learning to identify reef fish in the field, assessing conch populations within a marine protected area, and determining the Total Economic Value of a patch of mangroves. That’s only a piece of what the students at Center for Marine Resource Studies have been up to during these past few weeks.  Plus, that is only what is going on during the school day! In the evenings, students have had the chance to go catch and tag Lemon sharks using gill-nets near the mangroves, aka “sharking,”, and to night snorkel to catch green and Hawksbill turtles for tagging, aka “turtling.”

Amidst the field work, community outreach and recreational diving, the students have found enough free time to study for their exams, which brings them to the end of Case Study 1. Everyone is eager for the upcoming field trip to North and Middle Caicos, and to the main tourist destination in the TCI, Providenciales.  To give you a sneak peak, they will get to tour the Conch Bar Caves, see the Government farm, survey tourists around Provo, and see the inner-workings of a conch aquaculture facility.  After all that, the students will get some well-deserved relaxation time before they are launched into Case Study 2 and Directed Research.