With their 100th anniversary looming, the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) is entering its second century with the hopes of keeping the marine environment clean, clear and protected.

Yesterday BBSR director, Dr. Anthony Knapp, addressed members of the Lions Club in their weekly meeting about the health of Bermuda's surrounding ocean and environment.

"We are doing several cutting edge things in marine science," Dr. Knapp said.

"There is the Jason Project where we are educating three and a half thousand school children about the ocean, we also have undergraduate and graduate programs at the Bio Station."

And Dr. Knapp said he is proud of the steady progress the marine facility has made in recent years, with strides in cancer related marine studies, ocean storm research and advances of lessening the harmful affects of carbon dioxide in the ocean by fertilising it with iron deposits.

But of particular concern for the Bio Station, is the stress on Bermuda's most natural asset, its coral reefs.

"The coral reefs are worth a lot to this little Island," he said. "Without the coral, we'd have to build a wall around Bermuda to protect it.

"The most significant threat to the coral reef I think is human activity - people and shipping traffic. Now, Government have put down moorings on the dive sites. If you put pressure on the marine system - then you will be killing of the reefs."

But of the successes, Dr. Knapp said, the bio-station has been instrumental in helping businesses to prepare for the future by warning them of major weather changes.

"We have been involved in weather risks," he said. "And we're able to assist re-insurance companies with this information. No one really knew about "El Nino" or "La Nina" before 1992. Now everyone knows about it - we were able to predict storms and companies that were involved were able to get this information."

Closer to home, Dr. Knapp spoke about the loss of algae in the Harrington Sound, saying that his team of people are actively researching the effects.

"The algae in the Sound has disappeared," he said. "Remember we used to have this large mat - but we believe that the disappearance is cyclical. The only way to find out these things is to study it and that's what we are doing."

He added that support for the Bio Station needed to continue from the community, because changes in the global climate may have serious affects on humanity.

"The world is warming," he said. "And Bermuda has one of the longest records of ocean warming that exists. We are probably the oldest marine lab in the world and the only independent one in the Atlantic.

"We don't have enough stations in the world where we can get the kind of information and data we need. We need to continue supporting the Bio Station - that's what we're working on."