R.I.M.S

Roatan Institute for Marine and Sciences. 

Located on the northwest coast of Roatan, the Institute for Marine and Sciences (RIMS) is the ideal location for marine study, housing an astonishing profusion of marine life, barrier reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds.

They were founded in 1989 by the owners of Anthony's Key Resort. The Institute's purpose is to preserve Roatan's natural resources through education and research. RIMS has been a teaching institution and is visited throughout the year by universities, colleges, and even high schools abroad to study the tropical marine ecosystems and bottlenose dolphins that inhabit their facilities.

For many of the students who visit it, this experience of meeting the underwater world and the second-largest coral reef in the world can be full of emotion and incomparable beauty as well as an excellent opportunity to study. Likewise, it allows international students to experience a new culture in a field course that RIMS offer.

Facilities

RIMS has an education center designed for use as a spacious classroom, equipped for teaching. It houses an exhibit on the coral reef, invertebrates, fish, birds, reptiles, and geology of the Bay Islands. The classroom has capacity for 40 people and a smaller one available for 20 people. It also has a dry laboratory and a wet laboratory.

Educational Programs.

Educational programs offer academic groups to use the facilities to gain knowledge of tropical marine ecosystems and provide lectures and programs on various topics.

RIMS offers slide shows to enhance the underwater experience. They also facilitate the study of tropical interests, cultural interests, including geology, botany, ornithology, and ethnology of the islands. Some of the programs are:

1. Coral Reef Ecology

2. Coral Identification 

3. Reef Fish Identification

4. Marine Invertebrate Identification 

5. Mangroves

6. Coral Reef Monitoring Techniques

7. Coral Reef Threats: Roatan's Changing Reef

8. Dolphin Lecture Series

9. Sea Turtles

10. Marine Algae

11. Bay Island: Past, Present, and Future 

Dolphin Programs

RIMS has 6 different dolphin programs for anyone interested in interacting with these amazing animals. 

1. Dolphin Encounter 

2. Dolphin Action Swim

3. Dolphin Swim and Snorkel

4. Dolphin Dive

5. Dolphin Trainer for a Day

6. Dolphin Specialty Course

Internships.

RIMS also offers internships to college students or recent graduates with interests in coral reefs and marine conservation.

Coral Reef Research Internship

This internship is limited to 12 interns, who will work and live on the premises, will gain valuable research and experience on some of the most well-developed and diverse reefs in the Caribbean.

Dolphin Training and Research Internship

With a limit of 12 interns, they will work and live on the premises obtaining research and training experience, working with the bottlenose dolphins that inhabit the place.

Research.

To preserve natural resources, RIMS has implemented projects for the investigation. Research is a necessary tool in the conservation of marine biological diversity. Roatan Institute for Marine and Sciences is committed to promoting and facilitating marine research.

In 1996, it implemented a long-term reef monitoring project, called CORAL REEF MONITORING, conducted in areas adjacent to Sandy Bay Marine Reserve. This project was designed to monitor coral, fish and invertebrate populations and environmental parameters over time. By obtaining the result of the state of the reefs, RIMS can take appropriate actions to maintain marine resources. The objective of the project is to better understand the natural processes and the dynamics of the reef. With this research, RIMS can make recommendations to expand marine reserves and enforce local laws against practices that pose threats to the marine ecosystems and environments from which the Bay Islands depend.

Perhaps RIMS's most popular educational experience is interacting with dolphins. The Honduran government allows RIMS to work with these animals for education and research.

Ongoing behavioral studies, medical and morphometric data have been collected since the facility's opening, establishing a database where the health, growth patterns, and unique characteristics of bottlenose dolphins are monitored. RIMS have Dolphin Research Programs and Projects.

Dolphin Communication Project aims to know how dolphins communicate and the meaning of their interactions, using acoustic and underwater video recording equipment that locates the sound sources of the dolphins.

The Open Water Program started in 1992 and continues to operate, which allows scientists and researchers to constantly collect important data on the behavior and physiology of the dolphin.

Dolphin Reading Test tests dolphin reading, RIMS trainers have trained their dolphins to read two-dimensional symbols as commands.

Bubble Experiment, where bottlenose dolphins research a new toy, and the last project is the Respiratory Systems Study, allows the study of the respiratory system of marine mammals in hopes of designing collaborative research with open-water dolphin programs at RIMS.

Visiting Roatan Institute for Marine and Sciences gives you a unique experience.

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