About the Marine Center
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| TSMEC is an educational facility located in Matagorda County on Tres Palacios Bay, an inlet of Matagorda Bay, off the Gulf of Mexico. | |
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| Palacios is 110 miles southwest of Houston, 110 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, and 175 miles southeast of Austin. The TSMEC PISD K-12 Program provides supportive education to students and teachers through hands-on marine oriented activities, history and nature studies. | |
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| The Texas State Marine Education Center is in association with Matagorda County Navigation District No. 1 and Palacios Independent School District. Since the Center's beginning in 1988, more than 100,000 youth and adults have benefited from its unique program. | |
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| Talented staff members have developed over 100 marine-related lessons that allow individuals the opportunity to go into the field to study marine life. | |
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| The Center's wetlands encompass an estuarine beach, salt-water marsh and coastal prairie. Students learn about erosion, plants, sea life, birds, water quality, pollution, history and a variety of other topics. | |
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| TSMEC consists of an administration-classroom building, marine science laboratory, aquaculture laboratory, 708' x 20' pier, 1-1/4 mile nature trail with elevated observatory platform, two 12-passenger teaching vessels, 80+ acres of coastal marsh, and 2,400 linear feet of bay front. | |
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