PTMSC History
Summertime education program for youth.
What is PTMSC summer camp?
Response network for stranded marine mammals.
What is the Marine Mammal Stranding Network? PTMSC staff and volunteers respond to calls about stranded marine mammals in our area. Our role is to keep shoreline visitors and their pets at a safe distance from marine mammals, and collect data on live and dead animals.
Wetzel is this species of sea star.
What is a sunflower sea star?
Names of the pods of Southern Resident Orcas.
What are J, K, and L?
A seabird that can often be seen with their wings outstretched in the sun.
What is a cormorant?
A skeleton that brings hope.
What is Hope the Orca?
Counting stars on Indian Island.
What is Sea Star Monitoring? Starting in 2014, PTMSC has monitored sea stars at a few separate sites including on Indian Island.
Tiny organisms that grey whales like to feast on.
What are benthic invertebrates?
An underwater microphone for whale vocalizations.
What is a hydrophone?
The largest seabird (and most well-traveled).
What is the Albatross? Largest of all flying birds with lifespans that match those of humans, the 22 albatross species are capable of flying more than 1,000 miles a day and over 8.5 million miles in their lifetimes.
PTMSC location (not Fort Worden) purchased in 2021.
A Sound-wide study of harmful algal blooms (HABs).
What is SoundToxins? The SoundToxins project monitors phytoplankton in Puget Sound as an early warning step to protect shellfish consumers from biotoxins harmful to human health. Started by NOAA and managed by Sea Grant, we are one of almost 30 partner organizations who collect plankton samples and look for specific harmful algae.
An invasive crab found around here.
What is the European Green Crab?
Adaptation marine mammals have to keep warm.
What is blubber? Blubber functions as an insulating layer of fat, keeping internal organs warm in an ocean environment.
Island near PT where Puget Sound Express offers seasonal birdwatching cruises.
What is Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge?
The year PTMSC was founded.
What is 1982?
We use the light trap to monitor this crustacean.
What is Larval Dungeness Crab Monitoring? As a member of the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group, we are part of a network that monitors larval Dungeness crab populations in the Salish Sea.
An endangered marine snail in WA.
What is Pinto Abalone?
Largest seal species in the world.
What is the Southern Elephant Seal? Male Southern elephant seals can grow to be 20 feet long and can weigh about 8,800 pounds.
In late early August of 2024, a rare and unexpected visitor appeared in Port Townsend.
What is the Red-footed Booby? Believed to be from Christmas Island, an atoll in Oceania, it spent many days perched on the roof of the aquarium building of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
Two teachers that started it all.
Who are Judy and Libby? The Port Townsend Marine Science Center was founded in 1982 by two teachers, Judy D’Amore and Libby Palmer, and was initially run entirely by volunteers.
Annual low tide survey with a quadrat.
What is Intertidal Monitoring? PTMSC has been conducting intertidal surveys at Cape George (2018) and Kinzie Beach (2019) to collect baseline data on beach characteristics and species composition.
Largest species of chiton in the world.
What is the gumboot chiton? The gumboot chiton aka giant western fiery chiton or giant Pacific chiton is the largest chiton in the world.
Order including seals, sea lions, fur seals, and walruses.
What is a pinniped?
An threatened seabird that needs intact forests to survive.
What is the marbled murrelet?