The first workshop this season at Beachcombers’ Rest Nature Center in Pemaquid will be Friday, July 20, from 10:30 a.m. to noon and will about “Lobster Senses.”

Dr. Diane Cowan of The Lobster Conservancy will share fascinating information about lobsters, such as the fact that lobsters can smell underwater and that they taste things with their feet.

This workshop, which is designed specifically for youngsters ages 8 to 13, will give participants a sense of lobster life through hands-on interactions with live lobsters. Students will learn how to hold a live lobster and to recognize key characteristics such as whether the lobster is right or left handed and male or female. The workshop will explore how lobsters use their sense of smell, taste, vision, hearing and touch to relate to their underwater world.

Space is limited to 12 youth ages 8 to 13 years old in order to allow each hands-on time with live lobsters. Up to 12 adults are welcome to come and ob-serve.

The workshop is free, but participants must pay the town’s admission fee to the park. Space is limited, and pre-registration is required by Tuesday, July 17, by contacting Pemaquid Watershed Association at 563-2196 or pwalearn@pemaquidwatershed.org.

Dr. Cowan is the founder, executive director, and senior scientist at The Lobster Conservancy, which works to improve biological knowledge of the American lobster and apply it to fishery and environmental management.

She has been an assistant professor at Bates College and has served the State of Maine’s Department of Marine Resources as chief lobster biologist and leader of the Division of Biological Monitoring for the lobster, shrimp, herring and urchin fisheries. Cowan earned her Ph.D. from the Boston University Marine Program and continued her studies as a fellow at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1999 and 2005.

Beachcombers’ Rest Nature Center is a collaboration between the Bristol Parks and Recreation Commission and the Pemaquid Watershed Association, a volunteer-based, membership-supported nonprofit organization that has been conserving the natural resources of the Pemaquid Peninsula since 1966.

To reach the Center from Damariscotta, take the Bristol Road (Route 130) about 12 miles. Take the first right about 50 yards after the Fire Department (and just before Hanna’s Store) onto Snowball Hill Road. Travel .9 miles. At the bottom of the hill, on the left, there is a sign for the entrance to Pemaquid Beach Park.

Workshop participants should gather in the community room on the right side of the park pavilion building. This program will be cancelled if weather is inclement (as Pemaquid Beach Park closes on bad-weather days).

For more information on Beachcombers’ Rest Nature Center, go to www.pemaquidwatershed.org. Call 677-2754 for information about the Park.