Secondary school teachers from the US and Bermuda have spent the last week learning about the Island's marine ecology.

Now organisers of the course hope they will be able to return to their schools, devise a curriculum for their students and return to the Island with their classes at a later date.

The course was sponsored by the Friends of the Bermuda Aquarium -- a US non-profit organisation which supports shared education, research and conversation programmes between the US and the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo (BAMZ).

It was run from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) and participants were instructed by the University of New Brunswick's Dr. Martin Thomas, assisted by Andy Fields.

The course emphasised field work and the teachers visited a wide variety of marine ecosystems and several marine institutions including Paget Marsh, North Rock, Mangrove Lake and the Fisheries Department.

Bermuda was chosen as an ideal location for this type of course since it is a prime example of island ecology and offers a wealth of tropical marine systems in a small area close to the North American continent.

Dr. Thomas said: "This is more than a training course. It is designed to show teachers the opportunities of teaching marine and island ecology in Bermuda.

"We had to give teachers from the US a reason to pick Bermuda as a site for teaching and the main one is because there is so much to see in such a small area which is so close to them.

"In other places you would have to travel at least half a day to see the different places you can walk between in Bermuda -- here you can look over your shoulder and see three or four ecosystems and Bermuda's ecosystems are in good shape when compared to those in some other parts of the world.'' Dr. Thomas added that Bermuda also had the facilities to make running such a course possible with the BAMZ and BBSR present on the Island which was small enough to make everything on it marine-affected.

"Bermudians get half-a-mile from the sea and think they are away from it but they're never away from it. The soil and rock here are made up of the exoskeletons of marine organisms -- how much closer to the sea can you get?'' But he added: "There is no doubt that there is a shortage of people living here who are well trained in marine ecology -- it's funny that you get a Canadian here to teach about Bermuda's marine systems.'' Participants in the course were Cesare Filice from Mount Saint Agnes Academy, Joseph Ratteray from the Department of Education, Jerry McCarthy from Beaver County Bay School, Massachusetts, David Walker from The Maret School in Washington D.C. and Leslie White of The Grier School, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Walker said he heard about the course "by word of mouth'' and had been kept busy throughout.

Highlights of the trip for him, he continued, were the group's visit to Walsingham Pond and the boiler reefs on South Shore.

He said there was a strong possibility that he would be able to return with some of his students and added that he knew they would be as excited as he was about what there was to see.

Local teacher Mr. Filice said the course had been very informative and had helped teach him much more about the local habitat as well as showing him parts of the Island that he had not seen such as Walsingham and Blue Hole. He said he hoped to be able to incorporate what he had seen into the classroom but admitted that it would take some planning.

WATER BABIES -- Teachers participating in a week-long intensive training course put on by the Bermuda Biological Station and the Bermuda Aquarium paused long enough earlier this week for a quick picture in Harrington Sound.

Shown from left to right are Andy Fields, Joseph Ratteray, Cesare Filice, Dr.

Martin Thomas, Leslie White, David Walker and Jerry McCarthy.

Photos by Arthur Bean SEA CLASSROOM -- Biology teacher Leslie White of the Grier School in Pennsylvania takes notes while snorkelling in Harrington Sound.