Breaking Waves

Oregon Sea Grant has published a revised Quests book – The Oregon Coast Quests Book: 2013-14 Edition. Quests are fun and educational clue-directed hunts that encourage exploration of natural areas. In this self-guided activity, Questers follow a map and find a series of clues to reach a hidden box. The box contains a small guest book, a stamp pad, a unique rubber stamp, and additional information about the Quest site. Participants sign the guest book to record their find, and make an imprint of the Quest Box stamp in the back of their clue book as proof of accomplishment. Then the box is re-hidden for the next person to find. The location of the clues and box remain a secret so others can share the fun. Oregon Coast Quest clues and boxes stay in place year-round.

This new edition of the Oregon Coast Quests Book contains 26 Quests in three counties (Lincoln, Coos, and Benton), including six brand-new Quests and one in both English and Spanish.

To order the Quests Book…

CORVALLIS – A new, free iPhone application from Oregon Sea Grant aims to stem the spread of invasive insects by showing campers where they can buy local firewood when vacationing on the Oregon coast and other Pacific Northwest locations.

Dubbed “Firewood Buddy,” the application was developed by Media Macros, in collaboration with Sea Grant Extension’s invasive species specialist Sam Chan, media specialist Mark Farley and the Oregon Invasive Species Council.

The application is available free from:

http://itunes.apple.com/app/firewood-buddy/id539361546?mt=8

Using the application, iPhone- or iPad-equipped visitors can locate local firewood sellers closest to parks and campgrounds on the Oregon coast and in Washington, Idaho and northern California.

If the application proves popular, a version may be developed for Android devices as well.

The application also provides practical information about camping, and informs campers about problems caused by non-native insects and diseases that may be harbored in untreated firewood sold by supermarkets and other sources. Such wood often originates outside the region – sometimes from as far away as the US East Coast, New Zealand or Russia. The wood can harbor insects and other organisms, some of which can lie dormant in or on firewood for as long as two years and can cause forest havoc if they escape in areas where they have no natural predators. (Additional information about the threat of firewood-borne pests is available at http://www.dontmovefirewood.org)

The mobile application is a followup to a 2009-11 research and education campaign Sea Grant undertook with invasive species councils in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. A joint education campaign ensued to encourage people not to transport firewood to campouts, picnics and other activities.

Using the slogan “Buy it where you burn it,” the campaign provided educational material about invasive insects and plant diseases to people reserving state park campsites online. Surveys before and after the educational campaign showed that, while nearly 40% of campers surveyed said they regularly brought firewood with them from outside the area, two-thirds of those who’d seen the educational material said they would change their behavior, including buying firewood locally.

The research and education project was funded by the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Applications due April 17, 2012 for the Oregon Sea Grant Summer Scholar program for undergraduates. The program will place students in a natural resource management agency and is designed to help prepare undergraduate students for graduate school and careers in marine science, policy, management, and outreach.

Read more at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/fellowships/summer-scholars

To learn more about the Summer Scholars experience, visit our Sea Grant Scholars blog.

NEWPORT -  This Saturday, June 11, is NOAA Day at the Hatfield Marine Science Center,  and a great time to learn more about the marine research conducted by the federal government’s Pacific Research Fleet, which is in the process of relocating to Newport.

The new Newport Marine Operations Center – Pacific will complement the activities of  NOAA researchers who have been based at the HMSC for decades.  On Saturday, visitors will have opportunities to learn about the scientists who rely on the NOAA ships to conduct their fisheries and oceanographic research as well as the NOAA Corps, whose officers and staff operate the ships and manage the fleet.

Scheduled activities include:

• 11:00am – 11:45am – Dr. Stephen Hammond, Chief Scientist, NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research will present “Exploring the Ocean – New Discoveries”. The short video clips and PowerPoint presentation will include information about coming activities at the cabled observatory offshore at the Axial Volcano.
• 12:00pm – 12:45pm – “Using Long-term Ocean Observations to Forecast Salmon Returns” presented by Dr. Bill Peterson, Senior Scientist, NOAA Fisheries, Northwest Fisheries Science Center
• 1:00pm – 1:30pm -“Giant Pacific Octopus Feeding” presented by Dr. Bill Hanshumaker, Public Marine Education Specialist, Oregon Sea Grant
• 1:30pm – 2:30pm – “The Power of Art and Narrative to Make Fisheries Issues Easier to Understand”. Award winning author/illustrator of ten books, Taylor Morrison, will give a brief presentation about the creation of his latest book A Good Catch. Original paintings, sketchbooks, and storyboards will be on display. Following the presentation Taylor will be signing copies of the book made available for free, courtesy of NOAA.
• 2:30pm – 3:30pm – “Science and Service in the NOAA Fleet”. Learn about the NOAA fleet’s upcoming missions. Presented by NOAA Corps officer Russell G. Haner of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

… when the Visitor Center at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport switches over to summer hours.

From now until Labor Day, the Visitor Center will be open five days a week, from 10 am to 5 pm, with exhibits, activities and events designed to enlighten and entertain visitors of all ages with an interest in our oceans and coasts. It’s a great place to take a break from your beach explorations, and our bookstore offers all kinds of wonderful – and educational – mementos.

Current interactive exhibits include

• “Our Active Earth,” which looks at the science of earthquakes and tsunamis
• “Invasion of the Habitat Snatchers,” which uses games, videos and other tools to explore how invasive species can damage habitats and crowd out native animals and plants
• “Science for Sustainable Fisheries,” examining how scientists, fishermen and fisheries managers work together to ensure a healthy, safe, sustainable seafood supply. The exhibit features intricately detailed scale models of actual Newport fishing vessels, hand-crafted by a local artisan!

Visitors  – especially young ones – love being on hand when it’s time to feed our star attraction, Ursula the giant Pacific octopus, and the other animals on exhibit. Oregon Sea Grant’s educators, aquarists and volunteers are on hand to talk about the animals and their behavior and answer questions. Octopus feedings take place at 1 pm every Monday, Thursday and Saturday; feedings of the fish and invertebrates in our Eye-Level tank happen at 1 pm Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Marine science videos and presentations take place regularly  in the center’s Hennings Auditorium, and each Sunday at 11 am up to 20 visitors can enjoy a guided, behind-the-scenes tour of the quarantine, holding, medical, teaching, and research areas in our animal health wing.

For more about upcoming events and exhibits, visit the HMSC Visitor Center’s Web site.

Announcing the availability of the Oregon Sea Grant Science Communication Fellowship.  The Fellow will focus on science writing at Oregon Sea Grant Communications, working in a professional office dedicated to communicating science to non-specialists.

For more information: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/funding/fellows.html

Questing

… and learn a few things in the process? Head over to the central Oregon Coast, pick up an Oregon Coast Quests guidebook and head off in a puzzle-solving search for clues to the region’s natural, cultural and historical treasures.

Now in its third year – with several all-new Quests – Oregon Coast Quests is an all-ages learning adventure. Using the guidebook as your treasure map, find a series of clues that lead to a hidden Quest box – and have fun learning along the way. Once you find the box, sign its guest book, use the hidden rubber stamp to mark your victory, and tuck it all back away for the next adventurers to find.

Questing was born out of the 150-year old “letterboxing” tradition that originated in southwest England. In recent years, a high-tech version called geocaching, which uses GPS units to locate cached treasures, has become popular in the US and elsewhere.

Oregon Coast Quests are simpler, requiring nothing more than the Quest book and good powers of observation.  The 2009-10 Quest book contains 23 Quests scattered all over Lincoln County, including eight brand-new ones and one written in Spanish.

Read more and learn where you can buy the Oregon Coast Quests

NEWPORT  – Hands-on activities, displays, food and fun for the whole family come together on June 27 in the seventh annual SeaFest at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center.

The day-long event, starting at 10 a.m.,  offers visitors a chance to go behind the scenes to see the labs and meet the scientists who study marine life, explore the bottom of the sea, and track whales across the world’s oceans.

A wide range of exhibitors, food vendors, live music, and activities for kids are all part of the annual event. Visitors can watch the Hatfield center’s resident giant Pacific octopus, “Amigo,”  devour a live crab during the noontime feeding, or get their hands wet inspecting sea stars, anemones, fish and sea urchins in the touch pools that simulate the rocky intertidal zone.

Read more …

The numbers of jellyfish in the Pacific Ocean have been increasing dramatically over the past few years, and scientists are concerned. Why? Because jellyfish eat certain fish larvae—which not only reduces the numbers of those fish but puts jellyfish in direct competition with other predators. Further, jellyfish can thrive in low-oxygen (hypoxic) waters, giving them an added advantage for survival.

Oregon State University (OSU) student Lanaya Fitzgerald, a fellow in Oregon Sea Grant’s Undergraduate Marine Research Fellowship Program, has been conducting research to determine the effects of one particular species of jellyfish—the sea nettle—on fish larvae off the Oregon coast. Her research indicates that sea nettles do, indeed, have a voracious appetite for several commercially important fish species, including Pacific cod, Pacific tomcod, and walleye pollock.

Fitzgerald’s work with jellyfish began in 2008, when she participated in a National Science Foundation-sponsored program called “Research Experience for Undergraduates” at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), with mentors Ric Brodeur and Tom Hurst of NOAA. Co-mentor Bill Hanshumaker of HMSC helped supervise her Sea Grant fellowship. In early May of this year, Fitzgerald presented a poster highlighting some of the results of her research at OSU’s “Celebrating Undergraduate Excellence” symposium (see photo). On Saturday, June 27, her work will come full circle with a presentation (including some live jellyfish and fish larvae) at HMSC’s annual Seafest, in Newport, Oregon.

For more information, contact Ms. Fitzgerald at fitzgela@onid.orst.edu.

“Some call it a treasure hunt, but Quest coordinator Cait Goodwin, a marine educator with Oregon Sea Grant at Newport’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), is quick to point out that the Quest Box at the end is not a treasure chest.”

So writes Julie Howard, Oregon Sea Grant program assistant, in the May/June 2009 edition of Oregon Coast magazine. Her article, “Oregon Coast Quests,” explains what Quests are and where to find them, and describes the experience of going on an actual Quest.

For more information about Oregon Coast Quests, call 541-867-0100 or visit the program’s Web site.