The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Sea Center on Stearns Wharf is offering free admission to its Underwater Parks Day Festival, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, thanks to support from the Associated Students Coastal Fund at UCSB.

The Underwater Parks Day Festival celebrates Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), or underwater parks, that preserve the biodiversity and abundance of ocean life in local coastal waters.

Some of the most nutrient-rich waters on Earth are in the Santa Barbara and Channel Islands region. These waters support abundant marine life found in kelp forests, tide pools and rocky intertidal reef habitats.

MPAs restrict fishing and the over harvesting of these diverse marine ecosystems to promote stable species populations and recreational use for future generations of visitors.

Promoting ocean awareness and stewardship makes Underwater Parks Day the perfect event to showcase the Sea Center’s new Portal to the Planet climate literacy program, which will demonstrate the important role of ocean gyres in thermoregulation of the earth’s climate.

Ocean gyres are circulating surface currents thousands of kilometers in diameter and transport warm tropical waters from the equator to the poles, while recirculating cool polar waters back towards the tropics. They are the planet’s climate controllers.

The program will investigate deeper into how the gyres form, where they are located, and how they impact global climate.

During the festival, the Sea Center will offer educational and interactive activities for all ages covering topics such as kelp forest habitat, ocean gyres and extreme weather, and conservation efforts in the Santa Barbara Channel and beyond.

For kids, there will be ocean-themed crafts, poetry, and a spot-the-octopus quest to win a prize. Visitors can interact with Sea Center divers during a Live Dive beneath Stearns Wharf.

Festival partners include the Associated Students Coastal Fund at UCSB, California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, Explore Ecology, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment, and Surfrider Foundation.

Underwater Parks Day is celebrated in unison with other aquariums and science centers in Southern California including the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

The Sea Center is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week. For more information, visit www.sbnature.org/seacenter or call 805-962-2526.

— Briana Sapp Tivey for Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.