Segment 1: Welcome, Location, Overview (5 min)

• Welcome to the Peconic Estuary 
• Background on the Peconic Estuary and why The Nature Conservancy named it one of the “Last Great Places in the Western Hemisphere”
• Overview of why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated the Peconic System as an “Estuary of National Significance”

 Segment 2: Habitats & Inhabitants (12 min)

• Discussion of the diverse habitats and natural communities of the Peconics
• Show and tell with various critters (e.g., horseshoe crab, oyster toadfish, sea stars, scallop, sea urchin, whelk, sea horse, skate) from touch tanks
• Show and tell with various macroalgae
• Questions

 Segment 3: Habitat Spotlight—Eelgrass (15 min)

• What is eelgrass?
• Why is it important?
• Where is it found in the Peconics?
• Why has it been depleted?
• What is being done to restore it?
• Questions

 Segment 4: Shellfish Hatchery (15 min)       

• Introduce shellfish species
• Discussion of the ecological, economic and cultural importance of shellfish
• Discussion of how Brown Tide has virtually wiped out a once nationally significant bay scallop shellfishery and affected other species; mention other issues that could be affecting shellfish
• Walk through hatchery to see how shellfish are being cultured; discuss life stages; look at shellfish larvae through microscope with video projection
• Questions

 Segment 5: SPAT (11 min)

• What is SPAT program?  History of SPAT?
• How upwellers work
• Why citizens join program; what they’ve learned; what they get out of it
• Questions

 Segment 6: What You Can Do to Help (5 min)

Segment 7: Intro to Massachusetts E-Live (2 min)