Peter Willauer of Edgecomb is enrolled in SEA Semester summer program: Protecting the Phoenix Islands, a study abroad program through Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Mass., while away from studies at Colby College. The Phoenix Islands, a region which remains largely unexplored and unvisited, comprise the Pacific’s largest marine protected area (MPA) and were recently named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At the program’s Woods Hole campus, Willauer developed a research project in marine oceanography and policy that will be tested and completed aboard SEA’s 134-foot sailing school vessel the Robert C. Seamans, one of the most sophisticated research equipped vessel under sail in the United States. Willauer and his shipmates are on a six-week research voyage from Honolulu, Hawaii, crossing the Equator on their way to the Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati with a final destination of Pago Pago, American Samoa.

Students will spend three weeks in the Phoenix Island Protected Area documenting the oceanic ecosystem around this archipelago: something that has never been done before.

Working side by side with research scientists from the New England Aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Willauer will provide real-time data that will lay the groundwork for an effective conservation plan. During that time, in addition to collecting data for a research project, Willauer will help provide weather observations to a national database, learn to chart the course of the vessel using celestial navigation and serve as the Junior Watch Officer (JWO), taking full command of the vessel during a watch. Willauer’s shipmates come from colleges and universities around the country.

For more information, visit www.sea.edu, where you can track progress of the vessel along with student experiences on the blog, which is updated each business day.