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We are being loved to death! Orange County Tidepools are stuck between "a rock and a hard place." More and more visitors come each year to explore and learn about the wonders the tidepools have to offer. Unfortunately, more visitors means more impact on the delicate intertidal zone. The Orange County Marine Life Refuge Project is dedicated to protecting and preserving these areas as well as educating the public about the marine life and how they can help and get involved with our efforts. |
Follow the "Good Tidepooler" Rules!
Placing animals in buckets, even for a short time, is like leaving a dog in a hot car. The high temperatures can kill the delicate tidepool animals. When you remove rocks and shells, even broken and empty ones, you are taking a future hermit crab home or camouflage for an anemone or sea urchin.
We are visitors in the tidepool creature's neighborhood. Picking up animals and putting them down in another part of the refuge is like something picking us up from our home...and putting us down IN ALASKA! We would feel very out of place. So do the animals.
Many animals in the tidepool take cover in the cracks and in seaweed that grows on the rocks. Careless footsteps can crush animals we can't see hiding in the tidepools.
Tidepool creatures hide under rocks for many reasons. When you turn rocks over you may leave the animals exposed to the hot sun and they may not survive. You might also leave them out in the open where they may be eaten by predators like birds and fish.
