Fall 2022 Sea Star Surveys

After a busy summer of education and aquarium operations, we will be diving into stewardship activities around Campbell River, starting with Sea Star Surveys at Willow Point Reef! These surveys allow anyone interested in ocean conservation to take part in a large scale citizen science project spanning from California to Alaska, monitoring ochre stars for signs of Sea Star Wasting Syndrome (SSWS Updates | MARINe, n.d.). 

Our goal at the Discovery Passage Aquarium will be to conduct at least one sea star survey every month going forward, not only to monitor the health of the sea stars, but to track density and other ecological patterns over time as well. 

We will be taking advantage of the rare low tides we see during this time of year with 3 surveys:

October 4th at 7am - with free coffee provided for your reusable travel mugs!

November 23rd at 9pm 

December 21st at 8pm 

We will meet at Jaycee Park for each survey, where you will be given a supply kit, and a run down of instructions. You don't need to bring anything except warm clothes. On October 4th, we are expecting a beautiful sunrise, and the night time surveys will allow us to see some elusive nocturnal animals roaming the reef!  

Please use our Contact Us page, or email us at info@discoverypassageaquarium.ca to sign up, as there is limited space for these events.

And stay tuned for more stewardship events in 2023! 

References: 

SSWS Updates | MARINe. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://marine.ucsc.edu/data-products/sea-star-wasting/updates.html