CASTINE — Maine Maritime Academy will go to sea again this fall, but instead of concentrating on keeping ships afloat on the oceans of the world, students in the new ocean studies degree program will be concerned with what’s going on in the ocean.

Beginning in September, students at MMA will have the option of choosing the new four-year science major that will focus on marine studies.

According to John Barlow, who will head the new ocean studies department, the addition of the major to the curriculum will be a big departure from the traditional Merchant Marine focus at the academy.

“Many students still perceive the academy as a Merchant Marine training school,” Barlow said, “but it’s more than that.”

He noted that in recent years the academy had added programs to the curriculum that did not focus on the Merchant Marine license. Among those were the associate degree programs in yacht operation and boatyard management and yacht and small-craft naval architecture, and the four-year degree program in power-engineering technology.

Barlow said that while the academy has offered courses in oceanography, and marine sciences, it has never offered the four-year degree. He said the program of study at the academy would be the only undergraduate degree program in ocean studies in the state.

He said that ocean studies students would receive a good, general background in basic math and science and then apply that knowledge to marine studies.

“Marine science is not a separate science,” he said. “The students in the new degree program will learn to apply scientific methodology to the study of the ocean.”

The new program will require some changes, including the addition of faculty members and physical changes to the existing oceanography laboratories. Barlow said the academy would hire two more faculty members to begin next fall, and one more professor the next year.

The academy’s proposed construction projects eventually will provide room for the ocean studies labs to expand, but, Barlow said, the infrastructure and the facilities for the new program already are in place.

“Our waterfront facility is second to none in New England,” he said. “There’s no place else where you can have a marine science classroom located 10 feet from the water’s edge.”

That nearness to the water, he said, opens up unlimited opportunities for the ocean studies students. He recalled that during one class session a few years ago, a pod of about 30 or 40 pilot whales wandered into the harbor. The class boarded one of the academy boats and spent the afternoon observing the whales, he said.

While marine life is not always so obliging, Barlow said there were many kinds of marine mammals that can be observed in and around Penobscot Bay. The nearness of the classrooms to the water also will facilitate gathering specimens for classroom study. The academy already keeps a boat in the water year round for marine science.

Barlow said that one renovation to the oceanography labs would be the addition of a marine aquarium in which collected specimens will be kept. He said plans had been made to run pipes from Castine Harbor into the lab through the tanks and back out into the harbor.

“Because of the nearness of the labs to the waterfront, that won’t be that expensive a project,” he said.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the new program, according to Barlow, will be the opportunity for students to participate in research projects in the Gulf of Maine. Part of the program will enable all students to assist in research conducted by member institutions in ARGO Maine, a consortium of agencies and institutions that conducts research in the waters along the Maine coast and in the Gulf.

The academy is a member of ARGO Maine, and operates and maintains the research vessel ARGO Maine that was donated to the consortium by the National Science Foundation.

“It’s the only all-weather, deep-sea research vessel north of Cape Cod, and it will offer us a tremendous opportunity,” he said. “We plan to do a lot of work and a lot of teaching aboard that vessel.”

The research vessel has recently been equipped with a sampling device called a “CTD” that measures water conductivity, temperature and depth. The equipment was donated by the Raytheon Corp. to the University of Maine, which is also a member of ARGO Maine. The university has lent the sampling equipment to the academy.

Students at the academy will be able to join graduate students and other researchers on board the ARGO, Barlow said, giving them the kind of practical experience for which the academy is known.

Each student will be required to take a research cruise, similar to traditional training cruise the Merchant Marine license students take each year. The academy is working to develop a cooperative experience with research groups so that ocean studies students will be able to secure summer jobs at marine science laboratories.

“The program will not only prepare students who wish to go on toward a graduate degree,” Barlow said, “but we hope it will provide them with hands-on skills so they will be employable at the bachelor’s level.”

He added that there has been some discussion at the University of Maine concerning the establishment of a graduate degree program in oceanography at Orono. He said he hoped that the two programs could be arranged to complement each other to provide more learning experiences for the students.

The research aspect of the program is exciting, Barlow said noting that, comparatively speaking, not much research has been done in the Gulf of Maine.

He said that soon the pressures on the coastline that have occurred in other areas farther south would be seen in Maine.

For the most part, the gulf has been used commercially only by the fishing industry. In the future, there will be competitive demand for that resource by recreational users.

“It is a very productive resource and we don’t want it destroyed,” he said.

In addition to the research efforts under way in Maine, there may be some opportunities for joint research efforts with Canada.

Barlow said that MMA hoped to enroll 25 students in the ocean studies program, which in four years would add 100 students to the academy. In addition, the academy hopes that the program will attract more women students to the academy. The program would help the academy meet its goal of stabilizing the enrollment at about 600 students, he said.

Most of the other programs traditionally have included mostly male students. Barlow said academy officials hoped that enrollment in the ocean studies program would be 50 percent women. So far, he said, the academy has received a significant number of applications from women.

Barlow said the academy still was accepting applications for the fall semester. Anyone interested in learning more about the new program may contact Barlow at 326-4311 or the admissions office at 1-800-443-5244.