A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the Annual Ochre (Purple) Sea Star Count at Clam Bay last Thursday - what a turnout!
A special shout-out to the Lambs - to Andy for his expert guidance, and to Virginia for the delicious cookies :D
Here's what we found:
1,580 Purple/Ochre Sea Stars - of which only 15 showed signs of wasting disease, an encouraging rate of approximately 1%*
1 Mottled Star
Putting this in context, counts over the past few years have remained relatively stable: 1,490 in 2023, 1,000+ in 2024, and 1,620 in 2025. This is a promising sign that the population is holding its own in the wake of the devastating wasting disease.
Your participation makes a real difference in monitoring the health of our local marine ecosystems. Thank you for your time, energy, and community spirit - see you next year!
ThINC
