Seymour Center offers new virtual expeditions

The Seymour Marine Discovery Center at UCSC’s Long Marine Laboratory is launching a new “virtual expeditions” program for marine science enthusiasts. The program, called “Scientists Saving the Oceans,” is part of the Seymour Center’s efforts to provide distance learning activities for the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first expedition, “Protecting Dolphins and Whales from Oceanic Noise,” will take participants behind the scenes with researchers in the Marine Mammal Physiology Project headed by Terrie Williams, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz and director of research initiatives at the Seymour Center.

Facilitated live through Zoom, the expedition consists of six engaging 90-minute classes. Each class session includes live-streaming time with staff and resident animals at Long Marine Laboratory. The classes begin Feb. 8 and are limited to 20 participants.

Registration form and additional details are available at seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/learn/ongoing-education/scientists-saving-the-oceans/.

Participants in the virtual expedition will get to interact with Long Marine Lab’s expert animal trainers and researchers to learn how they care for dolphins and seals and train them to voluntarily participate in conservation science; observe researchers in action and learn how new technologies are developed to investigate animals in the wild; and understand how studies done at the lab underpin field research aimed at protecting narwhals and other marine mammal populations around the world.

“We want to show people how we work with the resident animals, what we learn from them, and how we are able to apply that information to understand the impacts that human disturbances are having on animals in the wild,” Williams said.

To develop the Scientists Saving the Oceans program, Williams worked closely with Beau Richter, head trainer for the Marine Mammal Physiology Project, and Kevin Keedy, youth programs manager at the Seymour Center. Keedy and Richter helped transform the center’s popular Ocean Explorers summer camp into an online virtual program last summer, and Seymour Center staff have been creating a variety of distance learning programs to support teachers and families with virtual visits to the Seymour Center.

The center is offering a variety of other programs in virtual formats while its physical site remains closed to the public due to the pandemic. These include the Science Sundays lecture series; ocean-themed celebrations such as the upcoming Elephant Seal Week (Feb. 21-27), featuring at-home activities, lectures, and interviews with scientists; the Labside Chats series of online conversations with scientists; and the members-only Aquaria Explorations.