Marine Lab Update

Fall 2006 Update

Florida Gulf Coast University and the Coastal Watershed Institute are collaborating with the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (RBNERR) to bring a marine research and education laboratory to Southwest Florida. The proposed facility will be constructed on 18.5 acres of land on the banks of Henderson Creek in Collier County, next door to RBNERR headquarters, and will include classroom space, research laboratories, aquarium facilities, boat storage, and offices. The marine lab site affords direct access to the 110,000-acre Reserve, where students can experience coastal marshes, seagrass beds, mud flats, barrier islands, oyster bars, and mangrove forests as part of their formal coursework and through independent research projects. Access to the Reserve and surrounding waters will be provided via a series of trails as well as boat docks located at the Reserve's field stations.

This unique partnership will support FGCU's Marine Science undergraduate program and will benefit graduate students in the Environmental Sciences who choose to work on marine-related thesis projects. FGCU's presence within the Reserve will also bring additional research and restoration efforts to the Reserve itself. Most importantly though, this arrangement will increase the opportunity for collaboration of FGCU students and faculty with the scientific and educational staff at Rookery Bay as well as with the scores of visiting scientists that travel to South Florida each year to conduct research within the Reserve.

FGCU recently signed a 35-year sublease on the parcel of land, adjacent to the Reserve headquarters, that will serve as the new home of the marine lab. Efforts are currently underway to secure funding for the proposed 20,000 sq. ft. facility.

Architects Rendering of the FGCU Marine Science Center