Highline’s own Marine Science and Technology Center has been closed to the public because of the pandemic, and although they can’t take on any volunteers, MaST has been riding the wave. Their behind-the-scenes aquarium work has continued, along with online events for the general public to take part in.
“The MaST Center and our community have been heavily impacted by the pandemic,” said Education and Volunteer Programs coordinator Joanne Park. “Our facility has been closed for close to a year to both visitors and volunteers. We had to put a hold on both volunteer and education programs. There have also been lots of changes in our staffing to make sure we are using all of our team’s efforts to maintain our aquarium and keep it running.”
In addition to classrooms that are host to Highline classes, the MaST includes the third largest aquarium on Puget Sound, featuring sea creatures native to the area. The aquarium section lets visitors get very close to the sealife, including a touch tank and, regularly, an octopus.
The MaST Center is also enforcing the same health and safety practices as the rest of the Highline campus.
“This includes following attestation protocols, wearing proper PPE during their shift, and keeping social distance with each other,” Park said. “Before leaving the facility for the day, the last person at the MaST Center wipes down all common areas with disinfectant.”
Under normal circumstances, the MaST Center allows the general public to enjoy the aquarium and attend educational events, but with social distancing concerns, they’ve restricted the building to only necessary personnel.
“With the COVID-19 closures, we have only allowed essential staff to enter our building which means we are not able to rely on our volunteers anymore,” said Park. “Currently, we are just trying to make sure our aquarium animals are happy and healthy.”
With the inability to take on volunteer staff, a lot of the MaST Center’s usual events and public operations have been interrupted.
“We [usually] have some amazing volunteer opportunities such as the nudibranch team, marine mammal stranding team, and our Discovery Day team. There is a wide variety of volunteer positions to fit the interests and skills of anyone who applies,” said Park, “but unfortunately, we cannot currently take on new volunteers until we are able to reopen.”
Park says that prospective volunteers should keep an eye on the Marine Science and Technology Center’s Facebook page for updates if they are interested in volunteering or working with the MaST Center in the future.
Some of the MaST Center’s events have been adjusted for an online format, such as the Sea Critter Storytime, which the MaST Center presents in collaboration with the King County Library System.
“Originally, this program worked closely with the Woodmont Library to bring ocean stories to life to the tinier humans in our world. There are usually toddlers or pre-K children at the library and these programs usually had 3-7 attendees,” said Park.
This program has been switched over to be a digital meeting schedule, with the next Storytime to be offered March 27. “One of the benefits of going virtual for this program is that we are able to expand our audiences to more people across longer distances. Our virtual storytime program now has up to 100 attendees.”
In addition to Sea Critter Storytime, there also will be a number of other events in the coming months to be presented by the MaST Center for public audiences. These include an Underwater Beach Cleanup on April 24, a Highline Library Storytime on May 5, and a virtual poety event on May 12.
“We will start advertising for these events with more details soon on the MaST Center Facebook page,” Park said, “so if anyone is interested in attending and participating in any of these events, I highly recommend following our social media to stay up to date.”For more information, visit the MaST Center Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/HighlineMaSTAquarium, or the website at MaST Center at Highline: https://mast.highline.edu/