By Mike Isbell
University of Georgia

“Stop pulling when you hear the boat’s horn blow,” the captain
instructed. And 20 pairs of eager, young hands pulled the big
trawl net with its catch of flounder, crabs and shrimp, from the
water off the coast of Jekyll Island.

Trawling off the Georgia coast was just one of many experiences
the 130 seventh- and eighth-graders from all over Georgia had at
Marine Resource Camp. The camp is sponsored by the University of
Georgia Extension Service’s 4-H program at the 4-H Camp on
Jekyll Island.

The camp teaches the young people about the importance of our
marine resources and about the importance of the barrier
islands — Cumberland, St. Simons, and the many others — to
these resources.

Wonderful counselors

Some wonderful, college-age counselors provide the leadership at
camp. They teach most of the classes for the week: trawling,
hiking through the maritime forest, beachcombing, seining for
aquatic animals off the beach, exploring the marshes, canoeing a
brackish-water pond, and walking on the beach at night to look
for sea turtles laying eggs.

In the herpetology class, environmental education instructors
teach the 4-H-ers about reptiles found on the island. If the 4-
Hers didn’t get to hold the snakes, gopher tortoises and
alligator they were shown, they at least got to touch them.

Yikes! Sharks!

And they all laughed at the antics and humor of one instructor
while learning about the importance of sharks in our oceans.

I really enjoyed the trawling trip most. I’ve done all those
other things many times. But this was a chance to do something
new and to be out on the water.

We had seen the big boats right off the beach each morning as
they trawled for shrimp. Sea birds follow the trawlers, looking
for some easy scavenging. And who knows what else might be
following them?

Discovering a TED

Sea turtles are sometimes caught in the nets, and that’s a big
concern for the trawlers. They now have a device attached to
their nets called a TED, or a Turtle Excluder Device. The TED
allows the turtle to escape, and the counselors showed us how it
works.

Going trawling was a chance for everyone to relax a little and
to see the island and all the yachts tied up at the docks and
moorings. We relaxed until it was time to haul in the net.

Was this a typical “week at the beach”? Well, no, not exactly.