Welcome to our Sea Star Survey Volunteer Page! Thank you for your interest in joining our dedicated team of marine naturalists and conservationists taking action to protect our ocean and the life within it.
The Value of Citizen Science
Citizen science enables the public to make a direct contribution to research and gain insights about their environmental impacts. Citizen scientists also help researchers maximize the amount of data collected on a project!
With the help of citizen scientists like yourselves, SIMRS has been able to collect 9 years of long-term data for Sea Star Wasting on our coastline, to track the spread of marine disease and better understand the ecological effects on surrounding ecosystems.
Learn more about our Sea Star Stewardship Program and read our Sea Star StoryMap on our website!
What to Know Before Volunteering:
The tide waits for no one! Please arrive on time, as volunteers must complete the on-site training of methods and protocols prior to each survey. You can help us by coming prepared and completing the following tasks:
Watch our Sea Star Survey Training Video below (optional)
Sign and email our Volunteer Release and Waiver of Liability Form to sophie.vanderbanck@sirmstofino.org
Read through the Survey Protocol and Methods
Remember to dress for the weather, wear sturdy waterproof footwear (for traversing slippery rocks) and come ready to survey some sea stars!
Meeting locations:
Tonquin Beach - meet at Tonquin Beach parking lot at end of Tonquin Beach Rd.
VOLUNTEER COMPETITION
Once again, we’ll be running our seasonal “Juiciest Sea Star Bum” volunteer competition! To enter to win a prize, send us your juicy sea star bum pictures from this years surveys! Email them to info@simrstofino.org or tag us in your photo @SIMRS_Tofino on instagram. Multiple entries are permitted, the deadline to submit photos is September 1st!
What’s a sea star bum you say? Well here’s some spicy 2022 entries:
