Reports from the Field – August

Photo: Volunteers put their noses to the ground for an annual mussel bed survey at the Cascade Head Marine Reserve.


This month our staff continued field work efforts for several projects:

Cascade Head: Intertidal mussel bed surveys were completed during this month’s minus-tides. This monitoring helps our Oregon State University collaborators track shifts in mussel bed cover that may have occurred after the outbreak of sea star wasting syndrome.

Otter Rock & Redfish Rocks: We completed our SMURF (Standardized Monitoring Units for the Recruitment of Fishes) surveys this month to study juvenile fish settlement in the nearshore environment. We collaborate with Oregon State University, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and South Coast Tours (our newest collaborator out of Port Orford) to accomplish this valuable work.