SARAH JONES’S first real sense of what it might be like to be a marine biologist came during summers at Seacamp San Diego, a camp for middle-school and high-school students. It was there that her curiosity about the field evolved into an academic and career choice.
Ms. Jones, 25, is about to begin a Ph.D. program in biological oceanography at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. She wants to become a marine biology professor and to conduct research into seahorse conservation and preservation.
The type of camp that inspired Ms. Jones as a teenager is gaining popularity, and is part of a larger trend toward environmental and science camps. About 50 camps, most of them near the ocean, now specialize in marine biology studies, according to the American Camp Association. That is an increase of about 25 percent since 1998.