The Port Townsend Marine Science Center presents Dr. Jason Hodin, Univ. of Washington Senior Research Scientist, Friday Harbor Labs, the first speaker in the 2023-2024 Future of Oceans lecture series.  The lecture is free, though donations are always appreciated. In 2013, a devastating outbreak of a mysterious disease known as seastar wasting (SSW) began to spread in our region and along our entire coast, from Alaska to México. It impacted most if not all of our local seastar species to some degree, but sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) were hit the worst. In 2019, in partnership with the Nature Conservancy of California, Dr. Hodin and his team began the first ever captive breeding program for this now-endangered species. In this talk, Dr. Hodin will describe their successful efforts to raise this top predator in captivity through their entire life cycle, and some of the amazing things about this species that we have learned along the way. Contact them for more info.

Time: 3:00 pm | Location: Fort Worden Chapel