[CINC] Outreach/Carp State Beach-5/25

[paul jr petrich]

Hello Ocean People,
 Myself, Tara Brown, and Shirley Johnson had a great turnout tonight at the Carpinteria State Beach amphitheater for our Marine Mammals of the CINMS and CINP presentation. 95 to 100 campers showed up,  almost evenly divided between adults and kids. After the power point lecture most of them came forward to interact with us over the whale kit, and ask questions. We were all kept busy at the table handing out flyers about our Sanctuary and National Park. Only about one in 10 had been whale watching, and lesser  ratio had been to the CINP. As usual, our audience was 95% California. However, one visitor from Holland was especially inquisitive about our closing clip on ocean acidification. He was pleasantly surprised to find out the research into it, and outreach about it, was NOAA sponsored.   
 Leanne, the State Park interpretive coordinator, introduced everyone to the show  with her own rendition of Home on the Range as a sig-a-long, with totally local beach exploration words. She played her guitar, and we all sang along to the words on the screen! We in turn, made sure everyone there knew what a great job the community of Carpinteria is doing with their local Harbor Seal rookery just a mile away. With the pupping season ending this month, local docents have counted a record 100 healthy pups ( a strange flip side to reports about California Sea Lion pups not doing so good this pupping season ).  Keep on swimmin,  Paul