ANACORTES — The coastal waters of Washington are cold, murky and often plagued by strong tides.

Yet divers from around the world submerge themselves in the foreboding depths to observe creatures and features found nowhere else.

They dive at such places as Deception Pass, Rosario Beach, Fort Casey, Keystone Jetty, Larrabee State Park, the Langley Tire Reef and a plethora of spots in the San Juan Islands.

One thing each of the diving spots has in common is plenty of sea life, from wolf eels to starry flounders to buffalo sculpin to striped sea perch. There’s candy stripe shrimp, plumose anemones, moon jelly fish, pink hydrocoral, sunflower stars and the infamous giant Pacific octopus. There is a laundry list of aquatic life.

But just how does one tell a candy stripe shrimp from a coonstripe shrimp? Or say a feather duster worm from a fringed tube?

One takes a class.

More specifically, a diver takes the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) fish and invertebrate identification courses offered Feb. 15 and 16 at Western Washington University’s Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes.

The fish identification class will be 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 15. The invertebrate identification class will be 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb 16. Classes are held sporadically throughout the state.

Both Anacortes classes will be taught by REEF marine life instructor Janna Nichols.

“This is the first time we’ve hosted a class like this,” said Nathan Schwarck, scientific diving safety officer for the Shannon Point Marine Center. “We certainly didn’t expect this big of a turnout. We had to start a waiting list.”

Nichols, who has been involved with REEF for years, was surprised at how fast the class filled up.

“We weren’t really sure what to expect at Anacortes,” Nichols said. “We knew these were popular classes so we try and spread them around. Before now, the closest class was in Bellingham. But I had no idea how popular it was going to be. People really jumped on it.”

The next classes are in April at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. The Seattle Aquarium will host classes in May.

Schwarck captains the centers numerous research vessels, teaches scientific diving and is responsible for lab support, boat support and dive support. He was recently elected to the board of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences.

Classes are free. Pre-registration for each course is required. It can be done at http://www.pnwscuba.com/critterwatchers/classes. Participants can take one or both courses.

The Shannon Point Marine Center is an active research facility. Scientists at the center study a vast array of sea life. It’s the perfect class setting.

“People like science,” Schwarck said, “and people like to learn. This is a fantastic place for both.”

The classes are targeted at recreational divers who wish to become citizen scientists.

“The whole idea it to teach divers to identify just what they are looking at,” Nichols explained. “A lot of divers get to a point in their careers where they get bored. But when you go out looking for things and have a plan, it’s a lot of fun.”

Tanks at the facility give class participants a chance to see what they may see below the water. Raw sea water is pumped in and out of the containers, allowing the specimens to get the same nutrients they would in the wild.

Students will get to see a couple tiny red octopuses. Schwarck said it’s important the octopuses are kept happy. If they aren’t, they’ll simply leave.

“If they are unhappy,” he said, “they’ll just bug out. They are very smart and can find their way out of just about anything. Including this tank.”

Students will witness what happens when a purple sunflower star looks to make a meal out of a Pacific pink scallop.

Schwarck placed one of the seastar’s legs on the scallop. The scallop first closed — then bolted away. At one point, the scallop jumped out of the water.

“The seastar is a predator,” Schwarck explained. “If you were about to be dinner, you would get away, too.

“That’s what is great about having this class at this facility. Seeing live specimens is much better than just seeing pictures.”

REEF is a grass-roots organization that seeks to conserve marine ecosystems by educating, enlisting and enabling divers and other marine enthusiasts to become active ocean stewards and citizen scientists. At the completion of the course, participants are enlisted as active stewards of the environment through the Living REEF Project.

“Recreational divers are a great source,” Nichols said. “They provide very valid data. Plus, this program really gets people caring about the underwater environment.”

The Living REEF Project is an invertebrate and fish monitoring program that provides information on the status and health of regional marine life. The Pacific Northwest includes 44 invertebrates and 37 fish species.

“These classes allow people to take notice,” Nichols said. “Maybe they see there aren’t as many rock fish. Or there are more fish with tumors or invasive tunicates (marine invertebrates). There are plenty of situations where the water looks great from above. Underneath, it’s a completely different story.”

Invertebrates such as anemones, starfish and sponges dominate the landscape seen by divers in cold water, rocky-reef environments. Where tropical divers spend most of their time looking at fish in front of a backdrop of coral, invertebrates are the predominant backdrop in cold water.

“Divers that frequent the waters around here,” Schwarck said, “are die-hard. For these waters, you have to be.

“The environments around here are very rich. We don’t have the reef-forming corals like they do in the tropics, but what we do have is a vast amount of rocky substrates that have an incredible amount of life.”

REEF combines scientific and recreational diving. Those attending the classes receive a pair of photo cards with color pictures of fish and invertebrates they may encounter in Washington waters.
They also receive a waterproof Pacific Northwest Fish and Invertebrate Survey sheet. Attach it to an underwater slate along with an underwater pencil and a surveyor is set.

“Once a recreational diver gets certified,” Schwarck explained, “then they can do these sorts of dives.”

According to REEF: “Divers are ask to record what they see while swimming freely throughout a dive site. The diver records the presence of all fish species and/or each of the invertebrate included in the program that are encountered and can be positively identified. The search for fishes and/or invertebrates begins as soon as the diver enters the water. The goal is to find as many species as possible so divers are encouraged to look under ledges and up in the water column.

“At the conclusion of each survey, each recorded fish species is assigned one of four abundance categories based on about how many were seen throughout the dive: Single (1); few (2-10), many (11-100), and abundant (more than 100). The invertebrates are assigned either the abundance codes (Single, Few, Many, Abundant) or Present, depending on the species.”

Following the dive, each surveyor records the species data along with survey time, depth, temperature, and other environmental information. The information is then returned to REEF where is it added to an extensive data base that is accessed by scientists. Nichols remarked that survey results can now be simply downloaded online.

“There’s a big enough data set now,” Schwarck said, “that if I were a Ph.D., I’d definitely be looking at it.”

Schwarck even plans on attending the class.

“I have a masters in marine science,” he said. “But it never hurts to have a refresher. Janna does this all the time and she is really good.”

Nichols sees the classes as an opportunity to add citizen scientists.

“This first class is a foot in the door,” she said. “There are five levels to REEF, from beginning to expert. There’s even an advanced team. I am very excited about the opportunity to hold classes in that area (Anacortes). We are really lacking data from the San Juan Islands. Hopefully, these classes will turn that around and people will want to get involved.”

Vince Richardson can be reached at 360-416-2181 or by e-mail at