World Ocean Day - Oregon Coast Aquarium

One Ocean, One Climate, One Future - Together

Thanks for joining us!

Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate World Ocean Day at the Oregon Coast Aquarium! This event took place on Sunday, June 7, and featured marine-themed activities, special chats, and displays highlighting community partners from across Lincoln County.

See below for what went down, other resources, and to get an idea of what may be in store for 2027.

Guest Displays
10:00am - 4:00pm, Throughout Aquarium
Indo-Pac Feed
10:00 - 10:20am, Connected Coasts Habitat
Sea Otter Feed
10:30 - 10:45am, Sea Otter Habitat
Storytime
11:00 - 11:15am, Outdoor Amphitheater
Pinniped Feed
11:00 - 11:15am, Pinniped Habitat
Pelican Presentation
11:30 - 11:45am, Pelican Stage
Vulture Chat
12:00 - 12:30pm, Vulture Habitat

Ambassador Animal Presentation
12:30 - 12:45pm, Lobby Courtyard
Sea Otter Feed
1:00 - 1:15pm, Otter Habitat
Aviary Feed
2:00pm - 2:15pm, Seabird Aviary
Pinniped Feed
2:30 - 2:45pm, Pinniped Habitat
Sea Otter Feed
3:00pm - 3:15pm, Sea Otter Stage
Ambassador Animal Presentation
3:15pm - 3:30pm, Lobby Courtyard
Pelican Presentation
3:30pm - 3:50pm, Pelican Stage

Trading Card Day

Don’t forget! As with any of our day events, be sure to grab a free trading card from admissions or one of our tabling partners! Available while supplies last!

Schedule may be subject to change–please check back closer to the date for the latest information.

Tabling Partners & Presentations

Alongside OCAq’s typical animal feeds and presentations, educational activities took place throughout the day, and representatives from Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, United States Fish & Wildlife Service, Central Coast Food Web, Elakha Alliance, South Beach State Park, Cape Perpetua Collaborative, and more were at the Aquarium to answer questions and share their conservation work.

Join Beyond The Aquarium!

The Aquarium’s World Ocean Day celebration is one of many taking place in Lincoln County–see below for a schedule of other opportunities on June 7th and beyond.

Blue Foods at MidCoast Watershed Council's Community Meeting

Guided Tidepool Walk

Marine Reserves Trivia: World Ocean Day Edition

Art by the Shore: Free Family Workshop

World Ocean Day

Fish Skin Leather Workshop

Blue Foods at MidCoast Watershed Council's Community Meeting

Guided Tidepool Walk

Marine Reserves Trivia: World Ocean Day Edition

Art by the Shore: Free Family Workshop

World Ocean Day

Fish Skin Leather Workshop

In early 2024, the Ocean Foundation launched a new multi-year campaign: Catalyzing Action for Our Ocean & Climate. The aim is to keep pressure on global leaders to follow through on their commitments to 30×30 and its full implementation by 2030. You can learn more about benchmarks and wins the past years’ petition and support have brought.

A healthy ocean is a critical part of the solution to the climate crisis. With your help and that of hundreds of other organizations worldwide, the goal is to continue to promote and protect at least 30% of our blue planet by 2030!

World Ocean Day’s 2024 focus is on a 12 months of action program. Each month features a different focus, from learning about ocean climate, to environmental justice. All together, the goal is to treat ocean conservation as a single-day celebration, and something instead you can carry with you and act on throughout the year.

Resource and Activities

Take Action & Get Involved

Want to take action? Learn ways you can take action locally in your community:

Kids Activities

Looking for activities, lessons, coloring sheets and more? Check out WorldOceanDay’s resources for kids page!

Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s)

As of 2020, approximately 15% of land and 7% of oceans are protected. If you have ever visited a National Park, then you have visited a protected land area. But how do you protect areas in the ocean? Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), like marine reserves and sanctuaries, are areas in the ocean where human activities are more strictly regulated than in surrounding waters—similar to the outdoor parks that we have on land. In the United States alone, there are about 1,700 MPAs—nearly 41 percent of the nation’s marine waters. Marine Protected Areas are important in safeguarding marine ecosystems in a specified area.

To learn more about MPAs, enjoy watching this segment of Dr. Sylvia Earle’s address at the 2019 ‘Future of our Oceans’ conference.

If you would like to explore the work being done on Marine Protected Areas by Dr. Earle’s organization, Mission Blue, you can visit their website here.

Do we have Marine Protected Areas in Oregon?

Yes! The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife oversees the management and scientific monitoring of 5 areas along the Oregon Coast, called marine reserves.

Oregon’s marine reserves are areas in the ocean that are dedicated to conservation and scientific research. Within the marine reserves, ocean development and the removal of marine life is prohibited. Oregon created these marine reserves to conserve marine habitats and biodiversity. They also serve as living laboratories where we can learn about Oregon’s nearshore ocean environment and the effects that protections have over time on the marine habitat.

To find out more about the reserves and the science being conducted by the ODFW Marine Reserves Program and their partners you can visit their website here.

What role does the Oregon Coast Aquarium play in ocean conservation?

The Aquarium partners with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to SCUBA dive for the Marine Reserves program. The Aquarium dive team trains all of the Marine Reserve dive volunteers who collect data at each site. The aquarium has trained 29 divers and conducted over 600 research dives in the first eight years of the program. The OCAq dive team even created their own ID guides and showcase the animals at the aquarium during training.

Check out a short video about diving in the reserves.

Click here to take a deeper dive into the ins and outs of diving in the reserves.

The Aquarium also works hard to help rehabilitate wild Oregon Coast animals including birds, sea turtles, octopuses and marine mammals.

Animal Rehab Conservation

Contact Us

Subscribe to E-Newsletter

About Oregon Coast Aquarium

Since opening in 1992, the Oregon Coast Aquarium has been a premier attraction on Oregon’s central coast and an enduring advocate for the health of our ocean. For over three decades this 501(c)3 non-profit organization has supported marine wildlife and fostered environmental stewardship through its education programs, community partnerships, and rehabilitation efforts. Accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the Oregon Coast Aquarium is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 aquariums in the U.S., providing visitors with opportunities to connect with 15,000 animals spanning 300 different species. The Oregon Coast Aquarium is located at 2820 S.E. Ferry Slip Rd., Newport, OR. Learn more about the Oregon Coast Aquarium and its vital work at aquarium.org, 541-867-3474. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates.

Copyright © 2026 Oregon Coast Aquarium. All rights reserved.

Need to update your cookie permissions?