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Mystic Aquarium Student Ocean Conference Introduction Connecticut's Mystic Aquarium hosted the fifth Student Ocean Conference on December 11, 2001. Students discussed and debated issues relating to coastal health in their region. The issues were divided into three focus areas:
Discussions After listening to the experts, the students divided into five groups for roundtable discussions. Each discussion group was assigned a particular scenario pertaining to one of the five topics addressed by the speakers. Each of the scenarios dealt with a particular marine sanctuary or marine protected area. There were about 12 students in each group, as well as one or two teachers and an expert to facilitate the discussion. Dr. Earle Dr. Sylvia Earle, Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, gave an inspiring keynote presentation to the students. Her speech stressed the importance of marine conservation and education, and its impact on the marine environment. She also spoke about the importance of marine sanctuaries. Other Activities After the conference, students were given the opportunity to take a behind the scenes tour of the Mystic Aquarium, as well as to connect to a live link with a remotely operated vehicle run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Guest from the US Commission on Ocean Policy Dr. Robert Ballard, who is a National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence and the President of the aquarium's Institute for Exploration, attended the conference as a representative of the US Commission on Ocean Policy and was part of the panel of experts receiving the students' recommendations. Student Comments
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