Hello Discovery Islands sea star fans!
There are some amazing low tides this week—some of the lowest of the summer—so it's a great time to get out and check on the sea stars on your local beach! The approximate low tides times are listed at the end of this post.
Hakai research technicians have been monitoring the sea stars at three sites on the east side of Quadra Island: in Hyacinthe Bay, Moulds Bay, and Shellaligan Pass. We did our first survey of the year last month, and we saw very little wasting at the first two sites, and a small amount at Shellaligan. Last year we noticed more wasting in June, however, so it will be interesting to see how things look this month!
Want to get more involved? Pick a shoreline to monitor monthly on low tide beach walks! The easiest way to share observations on iNaturalist from these monthly walks is to take representative photos of the sea stars you see: a photo of healthy individuals of each species (no need to know the species—iNaturalist will help with that!), and photos of stars that look potentially diseased. Check out the project description or this Hakai-Friends of Cortes Island primer for a reminder of the signs and symptoms of sea star wasting.
Low tides this week:
Monday June 13: ~11:45 AM, 0.4 meters
Tuesday June 14: ~12:30 PM, 0.2 meters
Wednesday June 15: ~1 PM, 0.1 meters
Thursday June 16: ~1:45 PM, 0.2 meters
Friday June 17: ~2:30 PM, 0.3 meters
Saturday June 18: ~3:30, 0.6 meters
Do you live in the Discovery Islands region (Quadra, Cortes, Read, Sonora, etc.)? The Hakai Institute and the Friends of Cortes Island Society are asking for your help to find and photograph sea stars in the Discovery Islands, and with a stretch of mid-day low tides this week (June 13-18) it's the perfect time to see how your local sea star population is faring. Sea stars are still being impacted by sea star wasting, but some
populations are recovering. Your observations can help sea star researchers along the west coast to monitor the health of sea stars and better understand the extent of sea star wasting. The more eyes we can get on the ground (or in the water) the better!
If you spot sea stars of any species, whether healthy or diseased (but especially diseased!), simply snap a few photos and share your observations to iNaturalist at your convenience! Join our Sea Star Monitoring in the Discovery Islands project to learn more about sea star wasting, see recent observations, and get regular updates. Thanks to those who participated in 2021, the number of sea star records and people recording have both doubled in just the past year!
Not in the Discovery Islands but want to participate? You can add your observations to the Tracking Starfish Wasting and Recovery project that spans the whole west coast.
