Page 95: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1996)

U.S. WEST COAST MARITIME REVIEW (Continued from page 96)

Michigan, to study the general principles of sci- entific classification, chemical and physical oceanography, marine ecology and the effects of pollution. The course includes lectures, lab work and hands-on field work, involving animal and fish dissection, shark and dolphin observa- tion, and other activities focused on getting to know the organisms in the Pacific area layout.

One of the main acknowledgements of the pro- gram is that both the fishing and shipping industries can be adversely affected by the deterioration of the environment, and that the disposal of society's wastes is a major consider- ation in the planning and maintenance of beach and boating facilities. According to Gary

Martin, professor of biology and director of the program, students are often surprised that life exists at all in the Los Angeles waters that are known to be polluted. He teaches them that in these areas "a different assemblage of organ- isms is found because of pollution," and chal- lenges them to assess the effects of pollution by asking the question, "How can you prove it's polluted — how would you test it?"

Applying Scientific Principles To

Industrial Processes

As part of the program's objective to teach stu- dents to monitor the environment, several experiments are conducted during the five- week course, including sampling fish from the world's largest known DDT zone, treating sea urchin gametes with suspect pollutants and observing the fertilization rate, and looking at stress proteins produced in response to heavy metal or pesticide presence in ocean waters.

Sea urchins, bacteria, cocopods and fish with high-level pollutants all serve as common- ly collected specimens.

But beyond experiments and studies of scientific principles, another objective of

Occidental's program is to demonstrate how these skills translate into profession- al life. "We try to pull in a speaker a week to talk to the students about their area of expertise," said Dr. Martin.

Past speakers have included a toxicolo- gist who worked on the Valdez oil spill, a salmon fishery employee, a water treat- ment plant employee, a DNA expert who demonstrated how to remove the sub- stance from fish, and an individual skilled in following fish populations with satellite technology.

While most of the speakers are those in the industry "just passing through the area,"

Dr. Martin and other program officials like

Dan Pondella, director of the Vantuna

Research Program, reportedly make an effort to enlist speakers who can capitalize on specific student interests.

This summer, participants will hear an expert speak about the Marine Mammal

Protection Act.

Vantuna Student Log Sample "Dateline: A* /tnfeleA, fufy J, t996 "... /4M. a^tennoon tnife- to IKarUna- T>el ^.ay 4*ou$4t tHe "SeaeA- Seine. /fytet tAe fOO * 6-fc. net out, we cOtaqyed it in to- &ee wAat we could &ee. /lud we 76e*e wene vKcwtf, nutltefo, tanyinf front a- frio mc£c& to- a. foot tony. "Xilliei. wete ev&ufwAexe; we aho otci aqccaiettancea, witA- tAe 4tiuy nup), — one ca&uaittf,. 7wo fraA wete loyyed and nteawted, frozen and ateline: /tnyelea, fuly 2, 1996 "... ntotninf- we deyan tneA&iny at 6:50 a.vn. — o^f to San T^edto to 6oand tAe 9/antnncv. "We- fretfrtnted mid-watet and bottom- ttacvli,, aa- well a& *oc& cOtedjei-, and came ufr witA all 6ind& inteneatinf cteatute&: front- utc6in& and tea, ceteunt&etA to ttatfraA and

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