The captain of the vessel Shearwater announces over the ship’s radio that the catamaran will converge with a group of dolphins soon.

Almost instantly, the bow of the ship fills with myriad students and instructors, expectant grins on their faces. As about two dozen dolphins begin bounding gracefully out of the water at the front of the boat, faces light up and personal cameras begin to click.

It’s the first trip in the field research course Introduction to Oceanography Lab in the Marine Studies program at Oxnard College through a grant from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Thursday, seven students learned to find the ship’s position using equipment such as navigational charts and bearing indicators, monitor wildlife populations, and conduct scuba dives in the ocean

“They get to work with scientists in the field,” said Tom O’Neill, OC Science department chair. “That’s something very rare. It’s a wonderful opportunity for the students.” O’ Neill is also the NOAA Grant co-principal investigator, and President of the Channel Islands Marine Resource Institute.

Freshman and sophomore marine biology students at Oxnard College were able to conduct graduate-level field work on Thursday as part of a five-year, $500,000 grant from NOAA. The grant, known as Entrepreneurial Education in the Environmental Partnership Program, will allow students the opportunity to work with professionals in the field, help them understand how to run a business and gain a competitive edge in the business world, and participate in the White Abalone Recovery Project, helping to monitor and restore the white abalone population. Most of the classes in the program are 1 to 3 units and are one semester length.

Organized primarily by OC professors O’Neill, Tom McCormick and Dr. Lorraine Madsen Buckley, the program works closely with NOAA, CIMRI, local business Proteus Seafarms, and the Channel Islands National Park. The idea began in the mid-’90s to give Oxnard’s Marine Studies major a badly needed field research program, said Buckley. The grant largely goes to the students, offering marine studies majors a stipend, and also pays for equipment and research. NOAA included time on the Shearwater as a donation in addition to the grant money, said Gabriela Navas, OC marine studies student and NOAA grant specialist.

For more information on the program, contact Lori Buckley at ext. 1999, Tom O’Neill at ext. 1916, or the Marine Education Center at 985-9801.