The Catalina Island, California Conferences:
In the late 1960s, Ron Linsky (CA) organized three meetings in California. These meetings were sponsored by the Orange County Marine Science Floating Laboratory Program.
As documented and quoted from “Marine Education: Individuals and Organizations” by John J. McMahon (OR) (1983), “In 1966, Mr. Ron Linsky started the Orange County Floating Laboratory--a seagoing K-12 oceanographic laboratory--in Dana Point, CA. In 1968, he initiated the Southern California Conference on Marine Science in Education. More than 100 participants at this conference shared marine science curriculum materials and began an informal network of K-12 marine educators. In 1969, Mr. Linsky coordinated the first National Marine Science in Education Conference. More than 200 people attended that meeting, including Dr. Robert Abel, Head, Office of Sea Grant."
The Beaufort, North Carolina Conference:
Will Hon, Director of the Regional Marine Science Project of Carteret County, North Carolina organized the 1971 National Marine Science in Education Conference in Beaufort. Participants at this meeting passed “The Beaufort Resolution,” written by Dr. James Schweitzer (LA).
The Beaufort Resolution called for the establishment of The Marine Science Education Association. The purpose of the Association was to be the encouragement of “ ..educational activities that will promote sound conservation practices, scientific investigations, and enlightened management practices that will safeguard the marine and wetlands milieu.”
As documented and quoted from “Marine Education: Individuals and Organizations” by John J. McMahon (OR) (1983), “The list of attendees for this conference includes individuals from Atlantic and Gulf states and from Ohio and Illinois.”
The Kingston, Rhode Island Conference
Thayer Shafer organized the August 26-30, 1974 National Marine Education Conference on The University of Rhode Island campus in Kingston, Rhode Island. The meeting was aimed at all segments of the education community that had some interest in the “World of Water. ”This conference was successful in attracting 120 people representing most of the coastal states and all levels and disciplines of water-related education. This was the first meeting to drop the word “science” from its title. Shafer had argued successfully for a multidisciplinary approach.
Left: Conference announcement and conference program cover. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)
Photograph by Susan Leach Snyder
This meeting also focused on the tremendous need to develop a public consciousness of the marine environment in order to facilitate coastal zone management and the orderly development of marine resources.
In a letter written in 2004 to the NMEA History Chair, Thayer Shafer related that since the “Yellow Submarine” was a very popular “Beatles” song at the time, the logo and theme for the 1974 conference were based on this song. The theme of the conference was “all together now in our yellow submarine.” The submarine appeared on the program, letterhead and T- shirts.
According to the conference program...
- The
conference began with registration on the evening of Monday,
August 26th. This was followed by a clam bake at the University
of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography Beach and North Lab.
- Tuesday,
August 27th began with breakfast, a latecomer’s
registration, and the opening session by Thayer Shafer (RI) and Ronald
B. Linsky (CA). Next were two Concurrent Workshops: (A) A panel, chaired
by Arthur West presented “Present and Future Roles of the National
Science Foundation, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and
Sea Grant in Funding Marine Education;” (B) A panel, chaired by
Donald Giles (OR) presented “Resource Centers and the Modular
Approach.”
Following these sessions was a general session titled, “The Government’s Role in the Sea--The Next Decade” by Steven Anastasian (Executive Secretary, Interagency Committee on Marine Science and Engineering.) Following lunch, there was a repeat of Concurrent sessions (A) and (B), followed by a session titled, “International Programs in Marine Education, presented by Robert Abel and Rene Cuzon Du Rest, both of UNESCO. A cash bar and dinner followed this presentation and it was followed by informal sessions: “Marine Environment Curriculum Study--The formation of a Consortium,” led by Robert Stegner (DE) and “Improvised Field Equipment”, led by George Hahn.
- Wednesday, August 28 began with breakfast and 3 concurrent workshops: (C) “Process and Problem Solving Approach to Public Education--A Coastal Zone Management Simulation Game” by H. Wells (Red) French (RI) and Judee Fish (RI); (D) “Interaction--The Education Committee of the Association of Sea Grant Program Institutions,” chaired by Tapan Banerjee (ME); and( E) “The Integrated Curriculum,” chaired by Warren Little. Lunch was followed by a general session, “Power From the Sea” by Howard Harrenstien (FL). Then, there was a repeat of concurrent sessions C,D, and E. A cash bar and dinner were followed by Informal Sessions chaired by Corwith Cramer (Sailing Education Association) and James Schweitzer (LA). Cramer headed “Alternative/Summer Programs for Teachers and Students.” Schweitzer headed “National Marine Education Association--a working session to explore the potential benefits of forming a national association.”
- Thursday, August 29th’s breakfast was followed by concurrent workshops (F) “Vocational-Technical Education; Career Education and Counseling,” chaired by Tapan Banerjee (ME) and (G) “Undergraduate and Graduate Education. How much? How Long? For what purposes? led by Chairman Gerald Posner (NY). Next was a general session by Harold Goodwin (DE), “Our Future in the Sea.” Lunch followed and then a repeat of concurrent Workshops (F) and (G). Following the sessions was the closing session “Where Do We Go From Here?” “Report on a National Association” by James Schweitzer (LA), “Report on a National Consortium” by Robert Stegner, (DE), and “Report on the next National Marine Education Conference” by Thayer Shafer (RI).
- Friday, August 30th’s breakfast was followed by tours to Mystic, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; Woods Hole, Massachusetts; and Newport, Rhode Island.
Highlights from the conference are as follows: Dr. Robert Stegner (DE) presented his ideas for developing brief packets of marine-oriented teaching materials that could be inserted into a wide variety of courses, now known as Project COAST. Although the idea sounded wonderful to some, not enough enthusiasm was generated for it to be developed as a nationwide system.
Resolutions adopted at this conference, known as the “Kingston Resolutions,” called for the establishment of a national marine education association; for Dr. James P. Schweitzer (LA) to be chairperson of the steering committee; and for the NMEA to be independent, but consider affiliation with the Sea Grant Association and the National Science Teachers Association. Schweitzer sent to marine educators a copy of the Kingston Resolutions along with a second draft of a “Marine Education Association Charter” on February 24, 1975 with a letter announcing: “ ...formation of the Marine Education Association which offers membership to all persons interested in any aspect of marine education. The desirability of such an organization and the services it could perform were discussed in each of three marine education conferences held in the middle and late sixties at Catalina Island. Again the matter was proposed at the Beaufort, North Carolina, marine education conference held in 1971."Schweitzer went on to say: “Our present plan calls for the Association to become incorporated as a non-profit society in the District of Columbia. It is the responsibility of the steering committee to pursue this matter.”
Besides Chairman Schweitzer, that first steering committee was composed of Tapan Banerjee (ME), Dr. Wesley Batten (VA), Don Giles (OR), Hal Goodwin (MD), Dr. Barbara Klemm (HI), Thayer Shafer (RI), and Ned Webster (FL). This steering committee would become the first Board of Directors of the NMEA, founded the very next year.
Conference T-shirt
Renny Little and a friend, 2003. (Photograph: Courtesy of R. Little)
In an e-mail letter written in 2004 to the NMEA History Chair (Susan Snyder), Renny Little (NMEA President 1977-78) wrote about his memories of the conference: "In the spring of 1973 Mary Cerullo and I got together with a group of dedicated Mass. teachers, including Jack Crowley and others and formally organized the Massachusetts Marine Educators. We saw a good deal of Thayer Shafer at the Aquarium and helped launch the conference in Kingston, RI, which eventually led to the first meeting to formalize the NMEA at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, CA. We had beautiful weather at that gathering, but I remember being up until quite late hammering out the organizational details. Still we had fun."
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