WWU's Shannon Point Marine Center starts new public education program on ocean issues

Western Washington University’s Shannon Point Marine Center will be offering an array of public education efforts aimed at increasing knowledge of major ocean environmental issues.

“We are very excited about this new educational initiative for a broader public understanding of ocean environmental issues,” said Steve Sulkin, director of Shannon Point Marine Center. “It is increasingly important for people to understand the many critical and important issues now facing our oceans, and how those can affect our futures.”

The new program, for audiences from elementary school children to adult education, will include lectures and other activities that will explain issues such as the impact of global climate change on the marine food web, impacts of ocean acidification, causes and effects of toxic algal blooms and other issues that affect human use of the marine environment and its living resources.

Presentations also will include explanations of specific research programs that are being carried out at the marine center located in Anacortes.

Although Shannon Point faculty, staff and students have participated in K-12 and community activities in the past, their scope has been limited due to a lack of resources. “We have resolved this problem through a combination of federal grants and donations amounting to over $230,000 that will support this initiative over the next 2-3 years, and hopefully, beyond,” Sulkin said.

A key component of the funding is a $25,000 payment from the Port of Anacortes and $25,000 from Kimberly-Clark to the marine center fund at the Western Washington University Foundation. These contributions were made as part of the natural resources damages settlement associated with the cleanup of the former Scott Paper Mill site in Anacortes. The effort is also being supported by a $2,100 donation from the Flounder Bay Yacht Club in Anacortes.

The funding will support the activities of a half-time Public Education Specialist, whose duties will include developing K-12 education programs with the Anacortes School District, working with marine center scientists to develop public presentations on their research, and providing talks in public venues. The marine center recently announced the appointment of long-time Anacortes environmental educator Denise Crowe to the Public Education Specialist position.

Shannon Point also is a participant in a National Science Foundation funded program called Centers of Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE). It is one of three marine laboratories on the West Coast chosen to partner with the University of Oregon in a COSEE program to incorporate ocean science into community college curricula and to work with informal science education institutions to present ocean science information to general public audiences. Skagit Valley College and the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve will work with Shannon Point in this program. The marine center has received a three-year grant of approximately $180,000 to implement this effort.

According to Sulkin, activities in the local school district will start almost immediately, as will the development of public presentation materials and lectures. “We hope to be ready by spring to begin to offer education programs to a wider audience” Sulkin said, adding, “We are looking forward to the prospect of further extending the extensive experience and expertise of our faculty and staff beyond our campus and university.”

Sulkin said that he hopes Shannon Point will be able to extend the public education initiative beyond the next three years, and to expand it, but that will likely depend upon the marine center’s success in raising private funds or obtaining grants to support it.

The Shannon Point Marine Center is a facility of Western Washington University located in Anacortes. More information about the marine center and its facilities and programs can be accessed at its Web site at http://www.wwu.edu/~spmc.