For families, there is a choice of oceanfront swimming pools and a marine biology-based program that offers a variety of activities for children.

The funding for the survey's marine programme was slashed from $24 million to $13 million a year - money intended for both the Atlantic and the Pacific sections.

Janet Gibson of the Wildlife Conservation Society's marine program in Belize said that spawning sites were "obviously a critical area of conservation."

Young, no more than twenty, a student studying oceanography at a local university while earning extra money under a marine educational program created for NUMA by Sandecker.

Under the new budget, the county cut its contribution to the marine program to zero.

Now, the marine program must find new financing or close its doors.

Mr. Smith, the marine program's director, said that operations would probably cease within three to four months unless financing was found elsewhere or restored by the county.

The money would be used for Haskin's operating shortfall as well as maintaining a marine advisory program and financing a finfish dynamics program.

It also participates in the development of new observion techniques (gliders and floats) and the development of new marine programs.

The centers would be "cumbersome," "costly" and "duplicate existing Federal and state programs," said Tudor Davis, director of marine programs for the Environmental Protection Agency.