Cheryl Kummer, James Lobdell, Cynthia Hubbard, Geneva Mottet and Susan Muckle had a great day last Saturday aboard the M/V Indigo cruising the waters of Guemes Channel and Rosario Strait. Along with Beach Watchers and marine volunteers from Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties, as well as oceanographers from the U. of Washington in Seattle, we spent the day analyzing the density, nutrient values, plankton, and other components of the water at various locations off Fidalgo Island. The trip was part of the "Ocean Inquiry Project" (OIP) and was co-sponsored by COSEE-OLC. (Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence, and Ocean Learning Communities.) To make some sense from this alphabet soup, Here are links to these organizations, and a short paragraph explaining what they do:
"COSEE-Ocean Learning Communities is a partnership funded by the National Science Foundation between the University of Washington College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences and College of Education and the Seattle Aquarium. In 2008, the Ocean Inquiry Project, joined the Center after recieving a partnership grant from NSF. COSEE-OLC is a thematic center with the long-term goal of developing models of Ocean Learning Communities in the Northwest region and sharing these models with the COSEE Network.
"At COSEE-OLC we are actively building a community of scientists, marine volunteer organizations, formal and informal educators and interested citizens to form an ocean learning community."
http://www.oceaninquiry.org/
http://www.coseeolc.net/how-we-help.cfm
In addition to enjoying a beautiful day on the water and getting to know beach naturalists from surrounding counties, the trip introduced us to oceanographic sampling techniques and the importance of this research in monitoring the quality of our ocean environment.
If this opportunity is available again in the future, we would encourage everyone to sign up!
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