Highline Community College’s Marine Science and Technology (MaST) Center is getting ready to say goodbye to Georgette, a Giant Pacific Octopus that has been calling the center home since November 2009.

Georgette will be released during a special ceremony during the MaST Center’s Water Weekends at 1 p.m. June 5. The event is free and open to the public and features cake and refreshments.

“To protect Georgette and the octopus population in the Puget Sound, we are releasing her back into her native habitat in time for her to adjust, grow and finish maturing,” said Kaddie Lawrence, director of the MaST Center. “We hope that she will remain in the local population near Redondo Beach for divers to see.”

The Giant Pacific Octopus is one of the 80 species of marine life that call the MaST Center’s nine observation tanks and two touch tanks home. Georgette is being released because the octopus has outgrown the center’s tanks and to minimize the MaST Center’s impact on the local marine life.

“Almost all of our animals at the MaST Center come from the wild and it is important to minimize our impact on the environment,” said Rus Higley, an instructor in Highline’s Life, Ocean and General Sciences department. “By allowing the octopus to be returned, we have only a minimal impact on the octopus population.”

The MaST Center is located at 28203 Redondo Beach Dr. S. in Des Moines. Parking is available on the street or in the municipal parking lot across from the MaST Center.

For more information, call (206) 878-3710, ext. 3135, e-mail mast@highline.edu or visit www.highline.edu/mast.