Let's Treasure Our Marine Resources!" is the theme of UD's 2002 annual Coast Day, to be held from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes.

Hosted by the UD Sea Grant College Program and the College of Marine Studies, the popular, award-winning event will offer dozens of fun, educational activities to celebrate the sea and increase public awareness and understanding of marine resources.

In addition to tried-and-true favorites, such as sea life touch tanks, boat tours, the Great Crab Race, the Crab Cake Cook-off and Seafood Chowder Challenge, this year's highlights include

A special ceremony to recognize the 30th anniversary of the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act and its contribution to the Delaware Coastal Management Program and a lecture series focusing on habitat management and other coastal resource issues;

An exhibit featuring the horseshoe crab–Delaware's official state marine animal–featuring live horseshoe crabs, presentations and hands-on activities that demonstrate the biology, ecology, historical uses, medical benefits and current status of this valuable creature;

An Education Tent highlighting marine science education activities in Delaware, with the Governor's "First" Marine Science Teacher-of-the-Year, Hepsi Zsoldos, an eighth-grade Earth science teacher at Talley Middle School in Wilmington, who will share project ideas and teaching techniques and display scale models of hydrothermal vents created by her 9th- and 10th-grade students in UD's Upward Bound summer program;

Oceanography professor George Luther, who will use his bag of glowing and exploding chemical magic tricks to amaze visitors and explain various marine-related phenomena;

The "Treasure Hunt," where children, 12 and under, can search for the answers to marine-related questions in the different exhibits and programs and receive a prize; and

t Delaware's coastal demo house, a 6-by-16-foot house, built on a trailer, which illustrates construction techniques and materials that can minimize potential storm damage.

As always, Coast Day is a treat for seafood lovers with local seafood vendors and culinary presentations on new ways to prepare seafood dishes.

Admission is free; parking is $2.

For more information about Coast Day, visit the web site at [www.ocean.udel.edu] or call the Marine Public Education Office at 831-8083.

KARI GULBRANDSEN