Stony Brook Southampton Students Set Sail for Seal Watch
A group of Stony Brook Southampton students enjoyed the unique marine environment and coastal location of the Stony Brook Southampton campus as they embarked on a seal watch boat trip aboard the RV Peconic on March 1.
This trip was the second seal watch of the year, following an inaugural seal watch trip on February 10, during which 20 Physician Assistant students from the School of Health Professions program and the University Police Community Relations team ventured into the water on the RV Peconic, a U. S. Coast Guard-inspected catamaran, houseboat-style vessel for operation in protected bays and rivers.
Twelve students from the School of Health Professions and the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) were aboard for the March 1 seal watch boat trip, which proved to be as successful and enjoyable as the first, showcasing the unique opportunities for experiential learning and wildlife viewing at Stony Brook Southampton.
Wendy Pearson, vice president for Strategic Initiatives, accompanied the students, in addition to Michael Austin, assistant director of Campus Life at Stony Brook Southampton. “This is one of my favorite collaborations with SoMAS and Health Profession programs, being able to go right out to the source and see wildlife. It’s great to get our non-Marine Science majors to take a break,” said Austin.
Christopher Paparo, manager of the Marine Sciences Center and the field station’s naturalist, educates the public about the various fish, invertebrates, mammals, and birds that call Long Island home. Paparo shared information about wildlife with the group throughout the trip.
During the winter, he explained, seals migrate to Shinnecock Bay from Cape Cod and Canada in search of warmer water and more abundant food supply. Seals begin to appear in mid-October and by mid-March, he has seen as many as 200 in Shinnecock Bay.
During low tide, the seals sun themselves on a sandbar near the inlet. On the March 1 trip, Paparo estimates that the group saw 200 Harbor seals, and for many students, this was the first time seeing a seal in its natural habitat.
“Going on the boat and seeing the seals helps people appreciate the wildlife in our local ecosystem, and for students, a lot of times they forget that there is so much really cool stuff in the unique location of the Southampton campus. They are busy studying and working on their classes, and trips like this allow them to take a break and forget about their hard work to just appreciate something really cool in nature, happening right here, on their own campus,” said Paparo.