Professor Brian Beal from the University of Maine Machias (UMM) will give a presentation on marine biology at the Westport Island Town Office March 20 at 6 p.m.

The town Shellfish Committee is hosting the event with an invitation extended to the public.

Professor Beal was a Fulbright Scholar in 2000-2001, studying the growth and survival of cultured European lobsters on the west coast of Ireland.

UMM has an on-going partnership with the Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education, where research is conducted in the area of shellfish and finfish.

UMM is located at the headwaters of the Machias River estuary on the downeast coast of Maine, and is an ideal location for the training of marine biology. On the shore of the Gulf of Maine near the Bay of Fundy and minutes away mudflats, the ocean becomes the classroom for the students interested in a career in marine biology.