Facilities - The Consortium owns and operates a 50 foot research vessel capable of offshore work, two 40 foot platform-type monitor vessels used in the marsh channels and bays, and several smaller boats. The Consortium maintains oceanographic field equipment and environmental collecting and monitoring instruments. Other facilities include 10 laboratory classrooms with microscopes and salt-water aquaria, dormitory housing (400 beds), cafeteria, recreation areas, buses, vans, marine science library, book store, nature trail, and maintenance shop. The Consortium’s instructional staff is also available upon request for college field trips.

Location - The Consortium is ideally located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia between the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Nearby barrier islands are biologically diverse and geologically dynamic. Many of the islands and marshes remain undeveloped and area waters have sustained fishing, crabbing, and oystering for generations. Additional resources within the area include Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Assateague National Seashore, and NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility.

Disciplines of study along the Eastern Shore include:

Invertebrate Zoology - A vast number of taxa are represented only in marine environments (e.g. the phyla Ctenophora, Chaetognatha, and Echinodermata). Many commonly found groups, such as the crustaceans, bryozoans, polychaetes, molluscs, and cnidarians, show a tremendous diversification in form.

Botany - Strong zonation in plant communities across barrier islands results largely from the dissipation of ocean forces by the islands. Other nearby communities include upland forests, freshwater ponds and bald cypress swamps along the Pocomoke River…

Environmental - A complex set of pollutants threatens the Chesapeake Bay and includes toxins from point sources and nutrient and sediment loading from non-point sources. Vast changes in fisheries and submergent vegetation have been observed over recent years. Several protected and undisturbed systems around the Eastern Shore provide contrast to more impacted areas of the bay.

Geology - Present day forces actively produce such geologically significant formations as large wash over fans, spits, ebb and flood tide deltas, dune bedding and marsh soils. Processes acting on island formation include spit growth and segmentation, upbuilding of submarine bars, and rising sea level.

Estuarine Science and Coastal Oceanography - The complexity of shorelines and bays along the Eastern Shore provides a natural laboratory for the study of water movement (tides and freshwater inflows) and of biological responses to such changes. Easy access to shelf waters allows for the study of classic water column processes leading to the formation and breakdown of physical, chemical, and biological stratification.

Vertebrate Zoology - Marine environments are home to fishes of diverse morphologies that are rare or absent in freshwaters. Such fishes include flatfishes, rays, sharks, and seahorses. Other occasional marine vertebrates include sea turtles and dolphin. Refuges, undeveloped lands, and open waters associated with the Delmarva Peninsula support a vast variety of shore birds, water fowl, and sea birds and are an integral component of the Atlantic flyway.

Ecology and Evolution - The proximity of diverse habitats allows for the comparison and contrast of community composition as well as individual morphological and physiological adaptations to stresses created by waves, tides, and salinity changes. Many abundantly found organisms along intertidal areas and in shallow bay waters are easily sampled and are ideal for experimental manipulation.