Washington Sea Grant’s ocean acidification expert, Meg Chadsey,
worked with the East Coast-based nonprofit to identify local high schools and
youth programs that focus on this issue in the classroom or through field
experiences.
“EarthEcho wanted to focus on youth who are engaged in ocean
acidification, are affected by it in some way and want to do something about
it,” Chadsey said. “Some of them are students I’ve helped train to monitor the
changing chemistry of Puget Sound.”
The Cousteau team spent Monday and Tuesday on the Olympic
Peninsula with members of the Makah and Suquamish tribes, learning about a
citizen science water-quality monitoring program, and catching and preparing
salmon using traditional methods. On Wednesday they will visit Bainbridge Island’s
Eagle Harbor High School, where students are working with Washington Sea Grant
and the Puget Sound Restoration Fund to come up with their own questions about
ocean acidification and design a monitoring program to address them.