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Bryan Fluech waited until the 31 children standing in front of him were silent before speaking.

“Are we expert anglers?” shouted Fluech, a Collier County marine agent.

“Yes,” they replied.

“Are you ready to fish?” he then asked.

“Yes,” they shouted.

The 31 children from the Boys and Girls Club of Collier County were among more than 100 people who spent Saturday celebrating nature as part of National Wildlife Refuge Day at Port of the Islands Marina in south Collier County.

While the morning was spent fishing or hiking through Collier Seminole State Park searching for birds, afternoon visitors were able to take boat tours and listen to lectures about wildlife native to Southwest Florida, said Takako Hashimoto, a spokeswoman for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

“We want to be able to get people out and appreciating the outdoors,” Hashimoto said Saturday.

This year’s events focused on the Ten Thousand Islands, with presentations focusing on the natural habitats and native animals found in Florida, Hashimoto said.

The Ten Thousand Island refuge covers 35,000 acres of mangroves, tidal bays and marches between Marco Island and Everglades City. Created in 1996, the refuge is part of the largest expanse of mangroves in North America.

Jim Shucart, owner of Port of the Islands Marina, said he was happy to open his doors to children who were hoping to learn more about conservation.

“No one has as much enthusiasm and excitement as kids,” he said. “And if you want them to learn, you need to make it fun.”

Children who participated in the mini-fishing clinic spent several minutes at five different stations where they learned the rules of fishing, how to tie knots, how to be mindful of the environment while fishing, how to cast a line and unhook the fish.

Jennifer Rodgers held up a colored poster at her station and read the sentence along with her pupils.

“Don’t teach your trash to swim,” Rodgers read.

Rodgers, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission outreach and education specialist, said events like Saturday’s are important because these teach the next generation to be responsible.

“We try to reach new audiences,” she said. “Children are (also) good at teaching their parents.”

The National Wildlife Refuge system encompasses 544 refuges, 95 million acres and 2,500 miles of land and water trails. More than 39 million people visited national wildlife refuges last year.