Peek at what’s under the sea Saturday at MSI





Saturday is the big day.

The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) only holds open house every other year. This year, it’s Saturday, June 14.

The UTMSI staff has been working for weeks to get ready to welcome visitors to the campus, on Cotter Avenue just west of the Gulf beach. They have a world-class institute, and they like to show it off.

Even if you’re a veteran visitor to open houses, you’ll find something new at this year’s celebration of more than 60 years of marine science. For one thing, visitors will have the option of taking trips on three boats that aren’t normally based at the institute: The research vessel Nueces, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. boat out of Rockport; and the motor vessels Mustang and Wharf Cat, both on loan to the institute to help give a better look at bay ecology. They’ll join the research vessel Katy, now the major UTMSI research boat with the departure of the R/V Longhorn.

UTMSI will also have partners in this year’s open house. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Texas General Land Office (GLO) and the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve (MANERR) will all have booths near the visitors’ center.

While the institute’s Wetlands Education Center is well on its way to completion, boardwalks allowing close-up looks at the marsh areas won’t be finished in time for the June open house. However, visitors can get an overview of the project from the UTMSI visitors’ center.

For the first time, MSI has decided to give the biennial open house its own weekend, instead of “piggy-backing” on another event.

“We feel that the Port Aransas tourist load during the summer is such now that plenty of support for the open house is available,” said Steve Lanoux, the MSI director of facilities.

Although there will be lots of new things to see and do, return visitors can also find some familiar sights, such as the turtle and bird exhibitions at the Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK), the touch tanks on the institute’s teaching pier, and tours of the Fisheries and Mariculture Laboratory, the UTMSI library and the institute itself.

Presentations in the visitors’ center will include Ocean Theater: “Sea Spot Swim” (for small children); Corals in Peril, by Dr. Tamara Pease; and Diving with Seals under Antarctica’s Ice Park, by UTMSI Director Dr. Lee Fuiman. All are in the visitors’ center auditorium.

For a complete schedule, see Page 3B.

The open house starts at 8 a.m. and runs until 4:30 p.m. As always, it’s free.


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