20 sea stars released to restore kelp after disease killed billions

Kelp forests along the Pacific coast have been losing ground to booming sea urchin populations since sunflower stars—the urchins' top predator—collapsed from sea-star wasting disease. Releasing 20 three-year-old animals in spring 2026 is not just species restoration; it is a test of whether reintroducing a keystone predator can reverse an ecosystem-wide shift toward urchin barrens.

On August 16, 2026, reporting from the Salish Sea cast a spotlight on one of the most consequential marine restoration projects on the U.S. West Coast. The Samish Indian Nation and University of Washington researchers have begun returning 20 captive-raised sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) to the San Juan Islands after a wasting-disease pandemic eliminated billions of the animals. The three-year-old cohort—nicknamed the 'snack pack' with individuals named Cheeto, Noodles, and Sweet Potato—represents the first major step toward reestablishing a keystone predator that has been functionally absent from much of the Pacific Northwest.

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The Samish Indian Nation and University of Washington researchers have begun returning 20 captive-raised sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) to the San Juan Islands after a wasting-disease pandemic eliminated billions of the animals.

The effort has been anything but linear. The original release was scheduled for October 2025, but divers surveying the San Juans detected sea-star wasting disease surging once again, forcing a six-month delay. A spring 2026 attempt still faced harsh conditions: the National Weather Service had issued a small craft advisory, and the Samish research vessel Chinook (Yómech) pounded through Rosario Strait to collect the stars from the Friday Harbor lab. That the team proceeded suggests the disease threat had declined enough to justify the ecological risk—or that the window for action was simply too narrow. Samish Nation biologist Sam Strauss described the mixed emotions precisely: 'I've had dreams about this day. I've had nightmares about this day.'

Sunflower stars are one of the Pacific Ocean's most endangered sea creatures, and their ecological stature is outsized. They can grow more than 3 feet wide and are the fastest of all sea stars, cruising the seabed at up to 5 feet per minute in search of urchins and sea cucumbers. That predatory role makes them a critical control valve on sea urchin populations. When wasting disease swept through, the disappearance of sunflower stars allowed urchin populations to explode. The result has been a shift from kelp forest habitats to urchin barrens, dense aggregations of herbivores that strip kelp and other macroalgae, undermining nursery habitat for fish and reducing coastal carbon storage. Restoring sunflower stars is therefore not merely a species-recovery exercise; it is an attempt to reverse a trophic cascade.

The captive-breeding dimension is what makes the project a noteworthy model. University of Washington researchers worked closely with the Samish Nation for the past year, but the animals themselves are three years old, meaning the 'snack pack' has been under managed care through multiple life stages. This longer rearing window increases confidence that juveniles can tolerate handling, transit, and open-water release, but it also concentrates risk: if disease or predation claims the cohort, years of investment vanish. The team is also releasing into known disease territory, with the resurge documented in October 2025. That means each released star is effectively a sentinel for whether wild conditions have become survivable again.