At Cape Fear Community College, the Marine Technology program provides skills for careers in marine scientific support. Students receive classroom training as well as practical training aboard their ship. The curriculum prepares individuals to use and maintain sophisticated equipment such as electronic navigation devices, physical and chemical measuring instruments, sampling devices, and data acquisition and reduction systems aboard ocean-going and smaller vessels. The students spend a minimum of 30 days at sea during their two years in the program. Additional periods are spent off campus conducting marine projects relating to the estuaries, bays, and marshes of the area.


The program is approved by the department of community colleges to conduct cooperative education programs with sponsoring marine agences. Credits are often transferable to four year institutions offering related degrees.  The research vessel Dan Moore is their ocean-going training vessel. The ship is a 30 meter fisheries research vessel formerly operated by the State of NC Division of Commercial and Sport Fisheries. In addition to the Dan Moore, the school also operates a variety of small craft and has its own dock, chemical and biological laboratories, net loft, fishing gear shop, electrical lab, welding shop, woodworking shop, and oceanographic equipment repair and calibration facility.

Unfortunately, the Marine Technology program has been targeted for elimination in Governor Perdue’s budget. The students, staff and friends are urging the community to call our local representatives to demand continued funding.

Watch slideshows of recent training voyages.