N.J. A 24 ft Carolina Skiff is used for fisheries, aquaculture and wildlife projects. Sudents farm clams and oysters on leased plots., and construct crab pots to catch sheddars for their soft crab tank. For students in Hans Toft's Marine Environmental Occupation program, class doesn't really begin until they put on their chest waders, pile into an old school bus, and drive the quarter mile or so down to the water. The yellow bus lurches down a gravel road and out of sight of Cape May County Technical School. Toft stops the bus by a boat house, where gear for the classrooms projects is stored.
Several students hop out, grab an osprey stand and load it onto the bus.
Students in this three-year program say they are drawn to it just as they are drawn to the water. Nearly every day, students spend at least some of their two and a half hour class either fishing, crabbing, or checking on osprey nests. There, the boat is anchored to the marsh between several docks along Avalon Manor. The students are there to put up the classes 21st osprey stand. The stand is placed next to an osprey nest sitting at the end of a residents dock.