That’s a great snapshot of SEA — an organization that inspired me greatly as a teacher when I worked for them as an Assistant Scientist on C-164. I also really appreciated the link to Ballard’s TED talk. It is very exciting to finally hear a prominent ocean leader unabashedly promote ocean colonization. What vast increases in practical marine understanding would arise from such an endeavor?!

When SEA finished the Seamans and chose Stanford as a west coast base instead of the Friday Harbor Labs at the University of Washington, I decided to create a similar marine field research organization here in the Pacific Northwest. You might enjoy learning what Beam Reach — a marine science and sustainability school — has accomplished. While I often direct student to SEA, I think Beam Reach is a better fit for undergrads and recent grads who are interested in marine mammals and the policy complexities that have arisen around the iconic and endangered species in the Northeast Pacific. I’m proud of our student research that has focused on acoustic exploration of the orca, the endangered salmon they eat, and the urbanized estuary they both inhabit. I also like that we work diligently to be sustainability scientists — reducing the impact of our investigations by pioneering a biodiesel-electric propulsion system that makes our 42′ catamaran silent underwater while underway.

Keep up the great blog, and let me know what you think of the Beam Reach blog: http://beamreach.org/blog?revefaes

Scott in Seattle

I just wanted to clarify something in your comment which might lead to confusion. While the majority of SEA’s programs are open enrollment, there are also several school specific programs. For instance, the last video in the above post is from a student participating in Stanford University’s SEA partnership program. Additionally, Boston University recently launched a partnership program with SEA.

It’s exciting that there are so many different ways that students can have a life changing sail training experience during their college years.

Thanks again for the comment and we look forward to following the success of Educational Partnerships.