Blog

Microplastics, microplastics everywhere—or so the news says. But just what is the extent of the problem in Puget Sound and the greater Pacific Northwest region?To start answering this question, the Seattle Aquarium recently hosted the first Microplastics Monitoring Workshop in the greater Pacific Northwest, and invited local and regional experts to join us and share knowledge, insights and strategies about their microplastics efforts.

Part three of four. Seattle Aquarium Animal Care Specialist Caroline Hempstead traveled to the coastline of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve from June 28 to July 10, 2019. Caroline assisted with a variety of research being conducted as part of a long-term monitoring program of the area. Check out Caroline’s account of her experiences in Alaska!

Extra, extra. We’re excited to share a recent opinion piece that was published in the Seattle Times from our own Dr. Erin Meyer, who serves as our director of conservation programs and partnerships. Dr. Meyer shared news of a special report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that highlighted the impacts of climate change on our ocean and cryosphere (ice and glaciers).

Part two of four. Seattle Aquarium Animal Care Specialist Caroline Hempstead traveled to the coastline of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve from June 28 to July 10, 2019. Caroline assisted with a variety of research being conducted as part of a long-term monitoring program of the area. Check out Caroline’s account of her experiences in Alaska!

Part one of four. Seattle Aquarium Animal Care Specialist Caroline Hempstead traveled to the coastline of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve from June 28 to July 10, 2019. Caroline assisted with a variety of research being conducted as part of a long-term monitoring program of the area. Check out Caroline’s account of her experiences in Alaska!

Having clean air and water is something we would all like to take for granted. It is essential to life and important to ensuring healthy communities and ecosystems. That is why Seattle Aquarium was disappointed to learn about proposed actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will revoke protective water quality standards here in Washington state.

Recently, Aquarium staff and volunteers joined over 15,000 people from zoos and aquariums from around the world to participate in the month-long Plastic-Free July EcoChallenge. Throughout the month, team members took concrete steps to avoid single-use plastics and their efforts produced some amazing results!

This year, the Aquarium has been working hard to raise our collective voice in support of our southern resident orca population. Washington state has taken important steps, but we still have work to do as the southern resident population has fallen to only 73 members, the lowest number since the 1970s.

You may have seen the sad news. It was recently reported that three more orcas are presumed to have been lost from our endangered southern resident population. The Center for Whale Research maintains the official population records for J, K and L pods and issued a statement on Aug. 6 announcing that the southern resident population had fallen to 73 whales.

In May, the United Nations released a research report forecasting the extinction of nearly 1 million animal and plant species due to climate change and human impacts to the environment.Things took a turn for the worse today as the Trump Administration released revised regulations for implementing the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Last June, five biologists from the Seattle Aquarium participated in the Washington sea otter survey, organized and run annually by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), with fellow participants from the Washington State Department of Wildlife (WDFW), the Seattle Aquarium, Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, and Quinault Indian Nation.

Voting and conservation are two things that we are passionate about here at the Aquarium—and it’s the time of year when you should be on the lookout for your Primary Election ballot in the mail! This election we are proud to be supporting the renewal of the King County Parks Levy that will appear on King County ballots as Proposition 1.