UPDATE—This event has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation.

Come Razor Clamming with NAME!

April 10-12 Copalis Beach, WA

Washington NAME will be heading out to the coast on Friday, April 10, 2020 for a weekend of festivities and marine biology.

We arise early Saturday, April 11, to hunt for the mighty Pacific Razor Clam, Siliqua patula. Joined by throngs of like-minded, bivalve-loving Homo sapiens, we use shovels and guns (clam guns, that is) to extract the beasties from their sandy homes before the tide and surf fill our rubber boots with icy saltwater.

The rest of the day is spent cleaning the clams, beachcombing for treasures and hanging with like-minded marine-loving folks. Then Saturday night, we feast on clams while we tell tales and sing songs of the glorious hunt. If the Homo sapiens haven’t been too greedy, we get to repeat the hunt Sunday morning before packing up and driving back to the safety of our (mostly) sand-free domiciles.

In addition, Friday night, April 10, there will be a FREE Razor Clam Biology and Ecology presentation by local tidepooling and beachcombing expert, Alan Rammer, at Beachwood Resort, 3009 WA-109, Copalis Beach, WA 98535.

For more info, please contact Woody Moses at wmoses@highline.edu for details.

Hope to see you there!

Join us for a “Pacific Seas Snooze” Overnight at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

Saturday November 16, 2019

Register Now!

Location: 5400 N Pearl St. Tacoma
Time: 7:00 pm Saturday – 9:30 am Sunday
Ages: Participants must be at least 5 years old

NAME Members: Adults: $40, Children: $25
Non-Members: Adults: $45, Children: $30

(Breakfast included; bring your own snacks; eat dinner beforehand)

Spend an evening immersing yourselves in the watery world of wildlife found along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja. See what’s in store in the SEA Lab and sleep with the hammerhead sharks, spotted eagle rays, and green sea turtles in the new Pacific Seas Aquarium. Maximum of 40 participants.

Contact Woody Moses (wmoses@highline.edu) with your inquiries!!!

Spaces are limited!

It was a fun and educational evening for WA NAMERS at the recent Whale Trail event at West Seattle’s C&P Coffeehouse on December 4, 2018. Celebrating the return of the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) to Puget Sound, The Whale Trail, hosted an evening of presentations dedicated to our favorite, local cetaceans. Led by Whale Trail Founder and Director, Donna Sandstrom, the evening started off with a talk by Marc Sears and his daughter Maya, who have been documenting SRKW activities off of West Seattle for over forty years. They spoke about K-Pod’s recent visit to our waters, discussing how they assess the apparent health of the animals, including how they collect their fecal samples (that’s science folks). But the highlight was a GoPro video of an astounding recent display by K-Pod off of Alki Point, complete with breaches, tail lobs and spy hops. It left the whole crowd speechless.

The final presentation, by Dr. Clement Furlong (U.W. Professor of Genome Sciences), looked at how marine mammals are at particular risk to contamination by organophosphate pesticides because they lack the genes necessary for detoxification. Unfortunately, these pesticides, particularly Chlorpyrifos, are still widely used are certainly making their way into Puget Sound. Dr. Furlong encouraged everyone there to contact their representatives to get these chemicals banned, not just for the orcas’ sake, but for our health as well. For more on Dr. Furlong’s research on the effects of organophosphates, follow this link.

After the event, several of us met a local watering hole for a recap of the evening’s lessons and to discuss future WA NAME events, including WA NAME 2019 next August in Pt. Townsend, WA. If you’d like to get involved in future WA NAME events, including preparation for WA NAME 2019, feel free to contact Woody Moses (wmoses@highline.edu) or Maile Sullivan (mailesul@uw.edu). Hope to see next time!