World Ocean Day Live Event Celebrates Laguna Beach's Crystal Cove

LAGUNA BEACH, CA—California State Parks and Monterey Bay Aquarium celebrated World Ocean Day with a live broadcast transmitted from spots all along the coast, including a segment on tidepools at Laguna Beach's Crystal Cove State Park. In addition, teams onshore, in a kayak, and below the water’s surface anchored the two-hour event from Point Lobos State Nature Reserve, California’s oldest marine protected area.

Geared toward kids of all ages, the presentation was watched by elementary-school classes across the country and into Canada. Viewers chimed in with comments and questions via Facebook Live's chat feature and participated in interactive games and experiments at each state park.

But it was a fifth-grader who summed up how everyone felt during the last half hour of the show, which was spent deep down below in a giant kelp forest: “I feel like an astronaut in the ocean!”

Clad in wetsuits and special helmets that provided air and accommodated their microphones, two divers took viewers on a scuba tour. Thanks to bright lights and special technology, we could see and hear them perfectly as they explored the forest habitat.

Since Point Lobos has been a no-take zone from the mid-twentieth century, it is a vibrant and healthy place that’s just at the beginning of the kelp-growing season, with long days of sunshine leading to the summer solstice.

Highlights included a warty sea cucumber that eats from the front but poops and breathes from its back end; ochre and giant-spined sea stars, species which haven’t been adversely affected by wasting disease; scores of red abalone shells, all empty, having been food for sea otters; and a Hopkin’s rose nudibranch, a vivid pink plant that used to be seen at Monterey Bay only during warm el nino years, but now resides year-round.

California has 124 marine protected areas, 35 of them are adjacent to state parks.

The live stream visited San Elijo State Beach in San Diego, where viewers learned about watersheds and why “no dumping, drains to ocean” stencils can be seen hundreds of miles inland. Instead, everything funnels down to the sea. Protecting the watershed where you live includes: properly disposing of pet waste, engine oil, and electronic/hazardous items.

All that pollution changes the chemical makeup of the sea, including the oxygen humans need to breathe.

"Every shell tells a living story,” said Alex, the interpreter broadcasting from Crystal Cove. “They are born with a shell and grow with [it] throughout their lives.” When a sea snail dies, hermit crabs move into the empty shell. Anemones gather bits of shell to create a protective mosaic when exposed to the sun—but underwater, their tentacles float like petals in a breeze.

Shells are crucial to life in a tidepool. Explore them as you would a museum, Alex advised.

After a guessing game at MacKerricher State Park, viewers were cautioned to give ocean mammals plenty of space, use inside voices and call experts if one appears distressed. Unfortunately, ailing sea lions are often seen on Laguna's beaches. Luckily the Pacific Marine Mammal Center is close by.

South-facing Gaviota State Park near Santa Barbara is on land where the Chumash had always been stewards of marine life. So Gaviota's interpreter offered a solution to plastic pollution: "Take 3 For the Sea."

Whenever you are out and about—enjoying a park, a river, a mountain hike, the beach, or wetlands—pick up three pieces of trash.

That’s something we all can do.