Blog

Being a youth volunteer at the Seattle Aquarium recently got even more rewarding: participants now have the opportunity to earn college credit through a new “badging” program developed by Aquarium youth engagement staff and volunteers in collaboration with researchers and faculty from University of Washington Bothell.

As we gear up for our Cedar River Salmon journey this fall, we are taking a look back at some of the highlights of our 2018 Beach Naturalist season. It was another great one that went by much too quickly!

We here at the Aquarium are deeply saddened by the presumed loss of another young member of J Pod. Scarlet’s death brings the southern resident orca population down to just 74 individuals and is most certainly a blow to the future of this iconic species. We can all take a moment to mourn this tragic loss—and then we must come together and take measurable steps to save our southern resident population and their primary food source, Chinook salmon, to help protect the rest of Scarlet’s family.

The Endangered Species Act is an important law to help preserve and protect species that are threatened or on the path to recovery. These important federal protections have a 99% success rate when it comes to ensuring the survival of endangered or threatened animals and it is critical we keep these laws in place.

Heroes take many forms and shapes and the Aquarium is excited that our very own Community Partner Program Coordinator Jasmine Williams was recently selected into the top ten of the Association of Zoos & Aquarium's (AZA) national "heroes" contest.

A few weeks ago members of our Fish and Invertebrates team released Umbrella, the giant Pacific octopus (GPO), back to Neah Bay where he was originally collected from just over a year ago.

We at the Aquarium wanted to give a brief update on what is happening and share some news on steps the Orca Salmon Alliance has taken and what policy leaders are doing to help save this iconic species.

Take a walk north of the Seattle Aquarium along the waterfront. There is something you should know about this little beach right in downtown Seattle - it is alive with wonderful neighbors that breathe water instead of air! 

#7 in the 2018 series of guest blog posts by Seattle Aquarium beach naturalists Bobby Arispe and Jen Strongin.

The love of sea otters led Diane Tomecek to establish the Sea Otter Foundation & Trust (SOFT) in the heart of land-locked Colorado.

We have all been gripped by the heartbreaking images of our Southern resident orca Tahlequah (also known as J35) as she mourned the death of her calf this past week. At the Seattle Aquarium we are all grieving along with the rest of the world. And though we are sad, we are viewing this as a wakeup call around the health of the Salish Sea and our mission of Inspiring Conservation of Our Marine Environment.

My latest shift on the beach was a bit of a slow one. It was not a very low tide and the overcast and drizzle kept families from heading down. The folks that did come down were really great and knowledgable.