Voice Over
Communications Specialist
Agricultural Communications
Texas A&M University
| When Matagorda County 4-H kids boarded the Karma recently for
her maiden voyage as a "floating classroom," plenty of hands joined to sift
through the seawater and silt in search of unique creatures.
|
Sound Bite
Marine Agent
Texas Cooperative Extension/Texas
Sea Grant
| Seeing this in the book is not the same as actually going out and doing it and
seeing the stuff firsthand. |
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Voice Over | Karma, a former shrimp boat given to Texas A&M, has been
restored and outfitted so that naturalists on board can teach people of all ages
about
the
state’s coastline, even if they live far away from the Gulf.
|
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Sound Bite
Marine Education Specialist
Texas Cooperative Extension/Texas Sea Grant | Regardless of where they live in the state, whether they live in Lubbock or
Amarillo or El Paso, what they do in their home communities
does affect us down here on the coast. Plus, the coast is such a rich
environment that it affects their lives by providing them energy. It provides
them seafoods and plus it gives some relevance to what they are learning in school. |
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Voice Over | The rich coastal environment provides energy and seafood. And
the coast receives water from the rivers, streams and various tributaries that
pass through farms, cities and industries from the northwestern part of the
state to the coast.
|
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Sound BiteRespess | You can tell right away when their faces light up
that they've seen something they may never have seen before or seen it presented
in that
way.
|
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Voice Over | Kids on the Karma learned about plankton nets, microscopes, and
core samples. And they netted an eel, a crab, a seatrout and numerous other fish
in a lesson on adaptations, biodiversity and habitat before the animals were
returned to the water. |
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Sound BiteRespess | They actually see all those little critters -
the little plankton the little copepods swimming around. And we asked them now
'think about that you are swimming in the water with that stuff' And they
kind of stood
there
for
a minute
and
went ‘eeeewwww.’ But then they see the importance of all that stuff and how it
drives the ecosystem we have down here. |
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Voice Over | Schools and youth groups can schedule outings on Karma by
calling (979) 863-2940. Reporting from Matagorda, Texas, I'm Kathleen Phillips.
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