Marine Reserves News: Seabirds, Vessel Contracts, Salps and More

A Deeper Dive

Seabird Monitoring – A Community Science Project 

Citizens conducting seabird monitoring surveys

Photo by Amelia O’Connor

Interested in learning more about the seabirds that live and use the areas in and around the Cape Perpetua and Cape Falcon marine reserve sites? Want to see how local community groups and citizens have been helping to collect data and raise awareness about Oregon’s marine reserves? Then check out these highlights and the recently released report by The Audubon Society of Portland, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and Oregon State University from their 2017 monitoring surveys.

This was their fourth year of surveys at the reserve sites. This ongoing project contributes to the USFWS’s seabird database, which is tracking long-term trends in Oregon’s seabird populations.

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Announcing Vessel Contracts for 2018

Charter fishing boat


We are currently accepting applications for 3 vessel contracts to assist with field work this year. Applications are now posted on our website.

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Upcoming Meeting: STAC - March 12th

The Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) will be meeting from 1:00-4:30 pm on Monday March 12, 2018 in Corvallis. STAC will be continuing discussions with ODFW on planning for the 2023 Marine Reserves Program evaluation. A meeting location and agenda are forthcoming and will be posted on the OPAC webpage.


Strange Creatures Cast Ashore: Salps

Salp at Sunset - Photo by Stephen Grace

Photo by Stephen Grace

Although salps resemble jellyfish without tentacles, they belong to a group of animals known as tunicates, commonly called sea squirts. In their larval phase, tunicates possess a primitive backbone structure, making salps more closely related to people than to jellyfish. Stranger yet, we are closer kin to a salp with its rudimentary spinal column than we are to an octopus, an invertebrate mollusk that seems almost humanlike with its playful personality and its remarkable memory, curiosity, and problem-solving skills.

This month guest author and photographer, Stephen Grace, shares this story and some of his photos on our website …

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