Having visited the Star Island conference center, they were keen to bring undergraduate university students out to the Isles of Shoals as an alternative to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Appledore Island, which was mostly uninhabited since World War II, was selected and developed from the late 1960s to early 1970s as the future home of the lab.

[4] An academic day at Shoals consists of laboratory and classroom time, combined with extensive fieldwork.

Fieldwork typically includes excursions along Appledore's rocky intertidal zone and seabird nesting colonies, visits to neighboring islands to study harbor seals, terns, and archaeological sites, off-shore cruises, and trips to the Maine/New Hampshire coast to study mud flats, salt marshes, and bogs.

The researchers discovered how mummichogs use a tail-flip jump to cross land into new tidepools, and how they prop themselves into an upright position before leaping to receive extra visual cues.

The goal of having the artists interact with the students taking classes is to improve observational skills and generate creativity.

[12] Shoals must provide the utilities necessary to support the island population during its operating season independent of mainland services.

[16] Recent initiatives in engineered island systems and the educational and operating benefits to living more sustainably on Appledore have guided the development of renewable energy resources and low impact wastewater management.

SML maintains three diesel generators and two green energy grids to provide electrical power day and night.

Over the past eleven years, addition of photovoltaic power generation with battery storage, along with sustainability and energy efficiency efforts, has reduced fuel needs by 80%.

In 2012, SML's sustainable engineering interns calculated that the system reduced propane consumption for heating water by 42%.

[20] Sewage is treated with three subsurface leach fields and several Clivus Multrum composting toilet installations.

[21] Composting toilet installations have two major advantages for SML: Water is obtained from a 20-foot (6 m) well on the north side of the island.

Shoals is licensed by the State of Maine to provide potable drinking water to island residents and visitors.

Shoals currently uses a 5.8 GHz wireless link which provides an internet connection from a Portsmouth base station to the World War II-era radio tower on the island.

The R/V John M. Kingsbury has a winch and a one-ton crane for the deployment of research equipment and for the movement of heavy materials from the mainland to the island.