Seabirds, Marine Mammals & Marine Debris Lectures

The autumn’s first CoastWatch educational event is coming up Friday, Oct. 2 in Cannon Beach.  “Seabirds, Marine Mammals & Marine Debris” takes place 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the Cannon Beach City Hall (160 E. Gower St.).  The event is free and open to all.  We’re delighted to have the Haystack Rock Awareness Program and Friends of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve as our co-sponsors.

Two speakers will be featured. They are husband and wife and active CoastWatchers, but will give separate talks on their respective specialties.

Kim Raum-Suryan of Sea Gypsy Research will present The Impact of Marine Debris on Marine Mammals:  How Can We Help?  Raum-Suryan studies pinnipeds that visit offshore rocks and beaches.  She will delve into their life cycles, with a concentration on Steller sea lions, her primary focus of study.  She will also discuss marine debris that threatens these creatures in various ways, such as entanglement and ingestion of plastics. This presentation will provide background pertinent to CoastWatch’s marine debris and marine mammal stranding citizen science surveys, and also underscore the importance of the debris clean-ups we conduct along with our partners in the Oregon Marine Debris Team.

Rob Suryan will follow with The Effect of Environmental Variability and Marine Debris on Seabirds.  Dr. Suryan is an Associate Professor – Senior Research in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center.  For over 20 years he has studied the effects of environmental change on the reproductive biology, foraging ecology, and population dynamics of marine birds.  He uses state-of-the-art electronics to study how individuals and populations respond to changes in their environment.  Rob applies results from many of these studies to address seabird-fishery interactions, environmental impacts of marine renewable energy development, and marine spatial planning on Oregon’s coast. This talk will also provide background relating to CoastWatch’s marine debris projects, and also to the beached bird survey and volunteer engagement in monitoring seabirds.

The speakers will also address the links between marine mammals, seabirds and marine reserves, including the nearby Cape Falcon reserve. For more information about the event or about CoastWatch’s citizen science projects, contact Fawn Custer, CoastWatch volunteer coordinator, (541) 270-0027, fawn@oregonshores.org.