Summer 2026 Sea Star
A new issue of our biannual magazine is here!
Through our Sea Star magazine, Washington Sea Grant shares highlights from our research, outreach, and education programs.
Our summer 2026 issue features a deep dive into The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp, a webstory rich in art and imagery that shines a light on the West Coast’s underwater canopies; a review of the many successes of the Coastal Hazards Organizational Resilience Team’s first biennium; a look at the first cohort of WSG’s new Coastal Resilience Fellowship; a recap of the Washington Fishermen’s Convention, WSG’s new effort to celebrate Washington’s commercial fishing community; and an exploration of a new WSG and UW Climate Impacts Group collaboration, the Summer Learning Institute for emerging environmental professionals.
Diving into “The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp”
A cluster of elongate olive-brown tubes floats on the surface waters off the North Pacific Coast. Each has a head-like bulb at one end topped with a flourish of thin sinewy blades, almost resembling hair.
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First detections of highly invasive European green crab on Orcas Island
Students from Orcas Island Middle School discover green crab molt while on a field trip
Orcas Island, WA — Evidence of invasive European green crab was detected for the first time on Orcas Island in May, when a Washington Sea Grant (WSG) Crab Team volunteer monitor and science teacher Amy Sprenger reported one of the distinctive five-pointed shells on Crescent Beach in Eastsound.
Photo story: Training future seafood farmers
For more than 20 years, Washington Sea Grant’s NOAA Science Camp has offered hands-on science-learning opportunities for middle and high school students. This year NOAA Science Camp looked a little different: find out more about this year’s aquaculture spin with the following photo story.
Read moreAnnouncing the River & Ocean Film Festival Photo Contest
Forks, WA – The River & Ocean Film Festival returns in 2024 to celebrate the freshwater and marine environments on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula. On October 18 in Forks, Washington, short films from the peninsula and beyond will showcase the region’s beauty and opportunities as well as the issues facing its aquatic habitats and human communities.
Read moreCalling all filmmakers: Entries sought for the Olympic Peninsula’s eighth annual River & Ocean Film Festival
Submit short films by April 22 for a screening at the Rainforest Arts Center in Forks.
Forks, WA – The River & Ocean Film Festival returns in 2024 to celebrate the freshwater and marine environments on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula.
Summertime on the Salish Sea
A WSG fellow connects with the Puget Sound community over marine conservation at a low tide event hosted by NOAA Science Camp
By Katalin Plummer, WSG Science Communications Fellow
Summertime in the Seattle area is nothing like the eastern Oregon summers of my childhood.
Tesla STEM students win statewide Orca Bowl competition
The “junior olympics of marine science” in the Northwest
On March 26, 2022, 12 teams from across Washington state met in the University of Washington Fisheries Sciences Building to compete in the twenty-fifth rendition of the beloved Orca Bowl competition.