Report Details

I have been a volunteer trail/beach naturalist at Cape Perpetua since 2008. Our tide pools are historically well populated with 1000's of ocher sea stars, occasional sun star.With the recent alarm over the sea star wasting disease, I walked thru our popular tide pools rocky complex today to inventory the formerly abundant sea stars.They're all gone! In areas where one had to walk carefully to avoid stepping on them, not a single sea star was observed. I found one half-dissolved orange ocher sea star clinging to a vertical mid-tide wall usually covered with sea stars. Three sick-looking ochers were co-mingled into a tight ball in one tide pool - a behavior I've not seen before. That was it!

Conditions

Temperature: 65 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 2.0 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 120. Number of dogs: 6. Walking or running: 50. Photography: 50. Tidepooling: 15. Busy Sunday afternoon at the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area

Notable Wildlife

Grey whales (2)

Dead Fish or Invertebrates

Unusual concentration. Almost complete loss of ocher sea stars from the Cape Perpetua tide pools area.

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All Mile 190 Reports

Showing 8 of 34 reports

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 190

December 26, 2019

A beautiful day at the coast at Cape Perpetua, very strong winds, tide remains high 2 hours following high tide, Devils Churn full of water, foam whipped to consistency of whipped cream.

LyndaC

Mile 190

February 10, 2019

I normally don't report on Mile 190 but since I've been a volunteer naturalist/interpretive ranger at Cape Perpetua since 2008, I can report on those things that have been changing over the years.

oldMGguy

Mile 190

December 26, 2018

Visited the ocean December 26th, a damp, showery day with small number of visitors.

LyndaC

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 190

March 10, 2018

Beautiful day at the beach, large number of people enjoying nature.

LyndaC

Mile 190

December 17, 2017

I have been a volunteer naturalist ranger, trail crew, trash-picker-upper at the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area since 2008.

oldMGguy

Mile 190

July 18, 2017

A beautiful July day, the coast  being enjoyed by a large number of people, Devil's Churn parking lot filled.

LyndaC

Mile 190

June 4, 2017

 a beautiful day, and a large number of visitors

LyndaC

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 190

April 12, 2016

The rock walls appear to have been scoured of small blue mussels and the only sea star noted was in a depression at the top of a rock at the western edge of the beach, which also appeared to be part of a healthy community with anemone.

LyndaC