Vester Field Station In The Community

About Vester's Community Outreach

This is accomplished, in part, through classroom and field instruction of graduate and undergraduate students. More than seventeen different courses have included field experiences provided out of the Vester Field Station. 

Additionally, we use the field station’s resources and expertise in outreach education programs to enrich marine science education in local schools and summer camps. Other outreach programs involve introducing our students and local groups to hands-on environmental restoration activities such as mangrove planting and oyster reef restoration as well as rescuing marine sea life. For one example, 2,467 mangrove propagules were planted by Boy Scouts Troop 330-San Carlos Park as part of a mangrove restoration project.

Opportunities for Life-long Learning

As part of our outreach mission, we also provide opportunities for life-long learning about the marine environment to the broader community through seminars, tours of the station and allowing community groups to use the facility. For example, presentations have recently been given to such groups as Agency on Bay Management, Barefoot Beach Civic Association, Caloosa Catch and Release Fishing Tournament Series, Democratic Club of Bonita Springs, Friends of Barefoot Beach, Edison Big Snook Charity Fishing Tournament, Imperial River Conservancy, Scientific Angler Seminar Series Rookery Bay Reserve and Professional Guides Associations. Topics included: non-internal combustion motor zones (NICM), mercury in sharks, impacts of the Deepwater Horizon blowout, habitat use of sea grasses, oyster reefs and mangroves by organisms related to recreational fisheries.