Thanks for Coming Out to our Oceans Day Event
On June 14th we hosted our annual Intertidal Exploration, accompanied by an Arts in the Intertidal nature journaling workshop at ALELEN | Miners Bay beach.
It was an exciting afternoon of learning and exploring, with a focus on animals that live in eelgrass beds, and the importance of keeping these underwater fields healthy and plentiful. With the use of a seine net, which was set out in the eelgrass bed by volunteers Nigel Barrett, Michael Dunn, and staff member Justine, we were able to safely collect a diversity of fish, crabs, and invertebrates from the bay for display in aquariums.
The event also presented an opportunity for participants to safely and respectfully explore the rocky intertidal areas with marine experts, learning about the animals that live in these areas, and learning best practices for visiting these sites (if you turn a rock over, make sure to turn it back as you found it, respect the animal’s autonomy and needs, and minimize handling of the creatures). We’ve found that giving people the opportunity to get up close and observe the diversity of animals from the eelgrass and intertidal zones increases interest and motivation to care for these important habitats.
We were happy to have marine experts and educators Kelly Nordin and Dave Hutchinson joining us once again this year to facilitate. They interpreted organisms in the tanks, lead explorations, and answered any questions that arose from participants. Dave and Kelly came early to set up the two display aquariums, taking care to mimic rocky and sandy habitat types and gather clear water for better viewing of the animals.
Throughout the event, everyone kept an eye on the animals in the tank, safely returning any creatures that were looking even the slightest bit stressed, such as juvenile salmon, who tend to be more sensitive than other fish we collect. We kept the tanks cold with ice packs and refreshed the water regularly to provide lots of oxygen for the animals.
We were also happy to once again have nature journaling expert, Bea Martin, join us to lead an Arts in the Intertidal workshop. Participants developed ways of observing and recording nature through drawing, while taking time to learn about the animals they were illustrating. It was especially fun for these budding artists to look in depth at a Dungeness crab carapace – taking the time to sketch, colour and label the different parts of the animal. A big thanks to everyone who helped make the event a success (Kelly, Dave, Michael, Irene, Nigel, Bea and Justine) and to everyone who joined us to observe, explore, illustrate, and learn about the importance of eelgrass beds and intertidal habitats. See you next year!
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