Skip to main content

Beach Seines with Schools

Education & Outreach

In 2022, the MRC piloted a new program called "Beach Seine with Schools". The goal of this program is to provide elementary students with an opportunity to observe the importance of intertidal habitats to juvenile salmon and forage fish, fostering a deeper sense of connection to our shorelines. Due to the success and demand for this program in its initial years, the project has continued into 2024.

Through this program, students attend a two hour field event where they observe the deployment and catch of a beach seine at Boulevard Park during the peak of the juvenile salmon outmigration period. Seining events are preceded by a short talk from a Tribal elder or a guest scientist who discuss the importance of salmon to the Native American people and the local ecosystem. MRC members also visit the participating classrooms prior to and following the field events to brief students on the significance of the intertidal corridor to juvenile salmon.

"Marine intertidal zones are migratory corridors for juvenile salmon, much like the sidewalks we use along the shoreline".  - Mike MacKay, MRC member

The Beach Seine with Schools project relies on various partners, organizations, and the local community to help facilitate the program. Partners include Lummi Natural Resources, Tribal speakers and marine scientists, the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, the Northwest Straits Foundation, Whatcom County Public Works, Washington Conservation Corps, and several community volunteers.

Event 1 Results:
5 pink salmon, 8 chum salmon, 2 sculpins, and 1 pipefish

Event 2 Results:
1 coho salmon, 4 chum salmon, and 32 shiner perch

Event 3 Results:
68 chum salmon, 13 chinook salmon, 2 pink salmon, 5 shiner perch, 2 sculpins, and 2 pipefish

Beach Seines with Schools