Junior SeaKeepers 2025-26 Beach Seining and Seagrass Walk

On the morning of December 14, 2025, The International SeaKeepers Society partnered with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center to host our second Floating Classroom experience for the 2025-26 Junior SeaKeepers. For this event, we met with 5 of our JSKs at the Biscayne Nature Center for a morning of beach seining, hand netting, and biodiversity sampling. We were joined by two of the park’s amazing staff, who gave us a tour and background on the park as well as some of the unique plant species that call it home before we waded out into the water, nets in hand. Over the next hour, our JSKs used their hand nets to softly comb over the seagrass meadows in search of some of the animals that occupy it as hunting grounds, nurseries, and many other functions. Throughout the morning, we were sure to treat every animal with care through only allowing the park staff to directly touch any as well as keeping any animals we saw in small observation tanks before re-releasing. Seagrass meadows are not only home to a multitude of species, but also serve as critical carbon sinks and oxygen producers, making their protection that much more important. To conclude our day, our team as well as the park staff led a discussion and show and tell of many of the coolest animals we observed, including mantis shrimp, needlefish, conch, and a sea urchin. We give a huge thank you to the team at Biscayne Nature Center for hosting us, and to our JSKs for their great work and enthusiasm as always!