Floating classroom passes from Aggies to Longhorns

BROWNSVILLE SHRIMP BASIN —  After serving almost 14 years as an Aggie floating classroom for thousands of students along the Texas Gulf Coast, the R/V Karma is changing hands  —  and names.

The floating classroom is now docked at the Brownsville Shrimp Basin for cosmetic and mechanical repairs.

The R/V Karma, formerly owned and operated by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Sea Grant, is now the property of the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, said Tony Reisinger, an AgriLife Extension agent for coastal and marine resources in Cameron County.

“The 60-foot fiberglass shrimp trawler was refurbished back in 2001 in a joint project of AgriLife Extension and Texas Sea Grant to become a floating classroom,” Reisinger said. “She made her maiden voyage in October of that year and made her home at Matagorda Harbor, but eventually moved to Corpus Christi.”

From there, she traveled to other Texas ports to teach thousands of students of all ages the wonders of the underwater universe of the Texas coast, Reisinger said.

“Once out on the open water, instructors brought up larger species with her shrimp nets and the smaller species with her plankton net,” he said. “Instructors, myself included, removed any wildlife that might pose a danger, then dropped the safer species into observation tanks that students could put their hands into and actually touch the swimming creatures.”

The Karma was even equipped with a microscope that projected onto a TV screen images of  microscopic plants and animals, while teaching landlubbers the delicate balance between shore and sea.

But alas, the Karma was sold to UT-RGV, which will open its doors as a new university Sept. 1, Reisinger said.

Dr. Richard Kline, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Texas-Brownsville and soon to become faculty at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, said UT-B had been trying for almost four years to acquire such a vessel.

“When the Karma became available, we acquired it and decided to rename it the R/V Ridley in honor of the Ridley sea turtle, one of the local ‘residents’ of the beach here, an endangered species that everyone can identify with,” Kline said.

The Ridley is currently undergoing repairs at the Brownsville Shrimp Basin off State Highway 48.

“We’ve done a bit of cosmetic work, repairing it, renaming it, and it will soon be repainted in UT-RGV colors. We hope to soon have more students than we can handle from throughout the Valley,” Kline said. “We’re in the process of upgrading the nets, the A-frame that handles the nets, the winches, other equipment and the areas where students can actually examine sea life.”

Having a floating classroom is dear to his heart, Kline said, because he started out in marine biology aboard the Katy, a Marine Science Institute floating classroom in Port Aransas.

“There’s nothing like being able to get out and see, touch and feel marine organisms that come up from the sea floor,” he said. “The look on children’s eyes when they get to handle a puffer fish or a stingray or a shrimp is just outstanding.

“My hope is that Valley students will be encouraged to pursue science degrees or a degree in marine science and come work with us at our Coastal and Marine Sciences program at UT-RGV,” he said.

Kline said UT-RGV has recently acquired a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to research marine debris along the Gulf coast.

“Marine debris is a big problem along the Texas coastline and also worldwide, so one of the components of the grant is to subsidize 30 trips per year on the Ridley floating classroom. Students will get an educational experience at half price and we will give them a 30- to 45-minute educational explanation about marine trash while they’re on board.”

Kline said the Ridley should be seaworthy this fall and will be able to take as many as 25 students per trip in the Laguna Madre and surrounding waters.

AgriLife Extension’s Texas Master Naturalists will continue volunteering to assist with lessons aboard the vessel, Reisinger said.