Around 200 students celebrated National Estuaries Day at the U.S. Department of Commerce on Oct. 3, 2002. Students participated in fish printing, tours of the National Aquarium, presentations by naturalists and EstuaryLive.

The last Saturday in September is National Estuaries Day -- an interagency celebration of the magical places where rivers meet the sea. It began in 1988 as part of Coast Weeks to educate the public on the importance of estuaries and the need to protect them. The annual event has matured into a national campaign with festivities across the country.

NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserve System and the U.S. EPA's National Estuary Program have collaborated throughout the years to promote National Estuaries Day. This partnership has been growing stronger and expanding to other federal, state and non-profit agencies. As a result, this interagency campaign reaches more and more individuals every year.

Since 2001, the featured event for National Estuaries Day has been EstuaryLive, an interactive field trip of over the Internet. Classrooms from across the country log on to explore estuaries from Maine to Alaska. The program has allowed multiple National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Estuary Programs to participate in the same educational event and provides an opportunity for students that live far from the coast to experience the wonderful world of estuaries.