Contamination of sea life is a dangerous health concern, according to a top biologist, but a group of marine students are making cutting edge solutions to combat the problem.

Last week, the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) announced the continuation of its Ocean Health Human Health degree programme for students.

And the eight-week-long eco-course, which has been taught at the centre for several years, teaches students about a variety of marine-related issues, including the harmful effects of marine pollution and changes in the global climate. According to BBSR director Dr. Anthony Knap, one of the most pressing problems facing oceans around the world is mercury contamination of sea life, including tuna, lobster and other popular shell fish.

The contamination comes from industrial activity along coastlines and in the ocean. "Seafood eaters worldwide are under a certain amount of threat,'' he warned. "Mercury is a volatile compound and things like tuna have a high concentration of mercury. We are pushing for a healthy ocean and healthy people and ingestion of contaminated seafood is a serious concern.

"We believe that interaction with people and the ocean is very important and we are developing new techniques to look for early warnings of contamination.'' BBSR is hosting some 90 participants in the programme and Dr. Knap noted it was a vital series of courses that helped students toward gaining their marine science degree.

"They have just finished the micro-biology portion of the course,'' he said, "and this week they get started on coral reef ecology.'' Dr. Knap said the students were fortunate to be able to work in an undisturbed marine environment such as Bermuda's, because it allowed them chance to work at "base level''.

"Usually the students would be in a field station or a lab,'' he said, "but here, they actually have a chance to get their feet wet in a working environment. We bring a tropical environment to the table and Bermuda is not very polluted. So we are dealing with baseline levels as opposed to other Caribbean islands which have more severe industrial contaminations.'' Dr. Knap said the students have worked toward pinpointing early warning systems in individual organisms, rather than the whole eco-system. He added that once the students completed the course, they would export their findings to help developing nations such as Guatemala, Honduras and Sri Lanka.

"There are sewage issues and bacterial issues,'' he said, "and nowhere is that more a concern than in the developing nations.

"Eco-systems are crashing all over the world and once you destroy it you can almost never bring it back.

"We are giving these students the background and training to develop them into marine scientists so they can get to the bottom of sea problems. It is essential, because 100 years ago it wasn't necessary to worry about the eco-system, so we are preaching this world wide, and these are the methods that we are pushing.'' Dr. Knap noted that scholarship support had come from companies such as pharmaceutical company Glaxo Welcome, Exxon, CV Starr Foundation and the Stempel Foundation.

He said: "We are very grateful for their assistance and, without their support, none of this would be possible, but we need more companies to step up to the plate and provide funds for this cause.''