OceansWide, a summer camp based at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole, uses the most up-to-date technologies and a specialized educational curriculum to introduce students to marine science.
This innovative program is rooted in founder Campbell “Buzz” Scott’s boyhood explorations in the waters surrounding Matinicus Island. There, Scott, now 48, experienced what many would consider an ideal childhood, with freedom and time to explore every nook and cranny of the island’s coves and beaches, time to listen to stories told by fishermen who would gather in the evening at the general store.
That boyhood experience, which included fishing for lobsters, ground fish and scallops, sparked a curiosity about “what was underneath the surface” that led Scott, when the fishing industry declined, to leave Matinicus at age 17 to study biology and engineering at University of Maine.
After that, he worked for the U.S. Antarctic Program for four years and then spent eight years at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), where he “flew” remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs).
Scott says as he gained experience using the latest technology available for marine research and worked with eminent researchers who utilized ROVs, questions began to form. “Why wasn’t this around when I was a kid?” he asked himself, and he thought of how much he could have learned so much earlier in life if he had been introduced to ROVs. He knew he wanted to build an educational program that would offer training with this technology at an early age. He resolved to return to Maine and realize this dream.
Thus, four years later, an August day at slack tide, seven middle school students proudly carry the miniature ROVs they put together from kits the day before (no two alike) to the Darling Marine Center’s dock. There, guided by Scott and marine biology students Kristina Pendleton and Matt Louis, they begin fitting on small pieces of foam to determine how much flotation their particular model will require.
One pair of campers at a time, using instructions in their notebooks, they attach multiple plugs at the end of their ROV’s tether to a box wired to a battery. One student lowers the ROV into the water; the other works the toggles on the power box to “fly” the machine, attempting to maneuver it to a tubular square suspended in the water, dubbed Mr. Bear.
Afterwards, each team, like the proper scientific researchers they are learning to be, makes notes about the experience, spelling out what happened and what they would do differently the next time.
Later, the campers explore the Darling Center’s research labs, where they ask questions about the different colors of algae grown in the greenhouse, check out tanks with tiny baby oysters and clams, observe squid surgery conducted by researchers and get to know the wide variety of critters in a well-stocked touch tank.
This was just one part of the OceansWide day camp experience, which ran five, five-day camps in July and August this year. Next year, Scott says, he plans to run a separate two-week overnight camp for older students in addition to the day sessions for the younger set.
During their remaining time at OceansWide, camper activities included safety and survival techniques, basic seamanship with lessons including knots and handling and coiling rope; learning what it is like to operate a full-sized ROV in the ocean onboard the 42-foot research vessel, Ira C, visiting the Rachel Carson Salt Pond, participating in a beach cleanup and going on a seal watching cruise out of New Harbor.
Scott has forged a strong connection with researchers at the Darling Center and has incorporated many of the camp activities into programs available year round for students of all ages, and for teachers and other groups. Dr. Kevin Eckelbarger, director of the Center, says Scott’s return to Maine is a boon for the marine research and education community and “adds a new level of sophistication to our research facility.” He explains that ROVs and autonomous underwater research vehicles (AUVs) are the tools of future marine research, and that Scott’s extensive experience flying highly sophisticated versions of ROVs and his methods of incorporating them into marine education puts him on the cutting edge.
The Darling Center has welcomed OceansWide campers to its facility, loaning the use of its research vessel, Ira C, for the camp’s river exploration. It has given Scott its ROV in return for his maintaining and flying it for researchers and faculty.
One of Scott’s dreams is to establish an interactive live link between his own research vessel in the Gulf of Maine as it flies his ROV several hundred feet down and students watching from an auditorium on land. Such land/sea connections have been successfully used in other educational programs. The students could ask the person flying the ROV to move it to the right or left, send it over to look at a creature near a rock or a strange shape nearby. Perhaps, Eckelbarger says, that auditorium will someday be built at the Darling Center.
Despite the enthusiasm for Scott’s vision funding is elusive. Scott and Eckelbarger hope the National Science Foundation will be interested in furthering the Darling Center/OceansWide connection.
“Schools need something like the OceansWide program, but can’t afford it,” Eckelbarger says. “The need is tremendous.” Despite difficulties, Scott is determined that soon he will be using ROVs up and down the coast to inspire students to learn more about what is beneath the surface of the water and to understand what they can do to protect this essential, fragile environment.
Eckelbarger is convinced he will succeed, saying Scott has two qualifications that he has observed over the years are most needed to make projects like OceansWide a reality: “The people who start them are dreamers and they are optimistic,” he says. “I’ve never seen anybody else who has so much of both.”