Justin Cox
Returning: Joe Gaydos on What Makes the Salish ...

The Salish Sea is a great example of a beautiful place where people and the natural world are dependent on one another. In scenic locales like protected national parks, people are not so much participating in nature as they are observing it. In the Salish Sea people are fishing, heating their homes with firewood, and more.

In this short segment is a “b-side” for the mini feature film, Returning. In the clip, SeaDoc Society Science Director Joe Gaydos reflects on what makes this ecosystem special.

Returning: Joe Gaydos on What Makes the Salish Sea Special
Justin Cox
Joe Gaydos to be Honored as Local Hero

Our Science Director, Joe Gaydos, will be honored with the Local Hero Award at the Friday Harbor Film Festival on San Juan Island this fall! The award will be presented at 7pm on October 27th, the final night of the festival. If you’re interested in attending the event, which takes place at the Whittier Theatre at the San Juan Community Theatre, check out their website for ticket information.

Justin Cox
Relocating a Stranded Harbor Seal Pup

Jump on board the Nancy Bee as we relocate a stranded harbor seal pup from San Juan to Yellow Island, where adult seals regularly haul out. Not all pups can be expected to survive pupping season, but this gives little Z8 a chance... This work is done in conjunction with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network and The Whale Museum.

Justin Cox
What the Loss of 3 Southern Resident Killer ...

In early August, three Southern Resident killer whales were declared dead by the Center for Whale Research. That brings the population down to just 73. Each of the dead whales are from separate Southern Resident pods. 

“There is nothing good about losing three animals in a population that was numbered at 76,” said SeaDoc Science Director Joe Gaydos. “In no way can I find a silver lining to this news.”

What the Loss of 3 Southern Resident Killer Whales Means
Justin Cox
Deep Green Wilderness Sets Sail to Find the ...

A local crew of sailors and marine scientists are leaving on an expedition this week to look for the rarest whale in the world, the North Pacific right whale.

The expedition will be led by Kevin Campion, founder of marine education nonprofit Deep Green Wilderness and member of SeaDoc Society’s Board of Directors. Campion and a crew of four are setting sail out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska on Wednesday, August 14, en route to the Bering Sea to continue their search for the rare whale.

Deep Green Wilderness Sets Sail to Find the Rarest Whale in the World

climate change

Ocean Outbreak: Confronting the Rising Tide of Marine Disease (Book Review)

Ask any ocean lover to name the biggest threats to ocean conservation and you’ll get a list so long it will make you uncomfortable: derelict fishing gear, increasing underwater noise, invasive species, ocean acidification, overharvest, plastics, toxins, warming water, and so on.

What you probably won’t hear is the word disease—not because the agents of disease are microscopic and out of sight, but because we know so little about how they affect the marine environment. Most people have never thought of parasites and pathogens as agents of change or important ocean stressors.

Falling Stars: Once-Abundant Sea Stars Imperiled by Disease Along West Coast

Falling Stars: Once-Abundant Sea Stars Imperiled by Disease Along West Coast

The combination of ocean warming and an infectious wasting disease has devastated populations of large sunflower sea stars once abundant along the West Coast of North America in just a few years, according to a study co-led by the University of California, Davis, and Cornell University published Jan. 30 in the journal Science Advances.

“In California, Washington and parts of British Columbia, sunflower sea stars keep urchins under control,” said Joseph Gaydos, senior author on the paper and director of UC Davis’ SeaDoc Society program. “Without sunflower stars, urchin populations expand and threaten kelp forests and biodiversity. This cascading effect has a really big impact.”