Puget Sound Marine Waters 2017 Report

Chinook Salmon | credit USFWS

A new report finds that Puget Sound’s unusually warm water temperatures that prevailed throughout the West Coast since 2014 finally returned to normal in 2017. Although water temperatures recovered, life within those waters has not.

In general, biological observations within Puget Sound revealed that the abundance of many marine animals throughout the food web are still lower than usual. In addition, the region experienced both the wettest spring and driest summer ever recorded in 2017.

The Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program’s Marine Waters Work Group, who authored the report, has been tracking the health of Puget Sound since 2011. This work group includes scientists from federal, tribal, state and local agencies, academia, nonprofits, and private and volunteer groups.

The work group looked at a number of environmental indicators, including plankton, water quality, climate, and marine life that when, considered together, provide both a long-term view and current assessment of the Sound’s health.

The Puget Sound Marine Waters 2017 Report can be accessed at: https://pspwa.box.com/shared/static/xzvxtmxv0lpomphceiotcwmr77ul75q7.pdf

The Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) supports the conservation and management of living marine resources and their habitats in the Northeast Pacific Ocean.

source: Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Puget Sound Marine Waters Report 2015

A recent report by the Northwest Fisheries Science Center provides a comprehensive look at marine conditions in Puget Sound in 2015.

The report was produced for the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program's Marine Waters Workgroup.


The Puget Sound Marine Waters 2015 Overview can be found at:

http://www.psp.wa.gov/PSmarinewatersoverview.php

Puget Sound Wastewater Study

A new study of emerging contaminants entering Puget Sound in wastewater plant effluent found some of the nation’s highest concentrations of pharmaceuticals and other chemical compounds, and detected many in fish at concentrations that may affect their growth or behavior.

The study by scientists from NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center and the University of Washington tested for 150 of the contaminants and detected 81 of the compounds in wastewater flowing into Puget Sound estuaries.

They include pharmaceuticals such as the antidepressant Prozac and the diabetes medication metformin, personal care products such as antibacterial compounds from soap and industrial chemicals.

The study also examined juvenile Chinook salmon and Pacific staghorn sculpin, both fish native to Puget Sound, and found 42 of the emerging compounds in their tissue.

Some of the compounds such as fluoxetine (also known as Prozac), the diabetes drug metformin and the antibacterial compound triclosan were present in fish tissues at levels that may be high enough to adversely affect their growth, reproduction, or behavior.

The research did not examine the potential effects on human health of consuming fish from Puget Sound, and it is unknown if these levels of emerging contaminants detected in fish could affect people.

The study funded in large part by the Washington Department of Ecology examined wastewater plant effluent, estuary water, and fish found in the Puyallup River estuary in Tacoma’s Commencement Bay, Sinclair Inlet in Bremerton, and the Nisqually River estuary near Tacoma.

The Nisqually estuary was included as a reference site because it does not have a major wastewater treatment plant and has been used historically as a reference site for toxicity studies.

Unexpectedly, they found that fish and water in the Nisqually estuary also contained high concentrations of some emerging compounds.

The study also noted that the relatively high pH of seawater often makes the contaminants more bioavailable and therefore more likely to be absorbed by marine fish compared to fish in freshwater, Meador said.

source: Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Puget Sound Oyster Restoration

The Washington Shellfish Initiative is working towards native oyster restoration efforts in Puget Sound. A new shellfish restoration hatchery at NOAA’s Manchester Research Station received aid from both the National and Washington Shellfish Initiatives.

“The intent from the beginning of this effort two years ago was to support PSRF work on Olympia oyster restoration,” according to Walton Dickhoff at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife updated the Olympia oyster Rebuilding Plan in May 2012 to lay the groundwork for focused, strategic restoration at 19 priority locations in Puget Sound where core populations existed historically.

To further implementation, NOAA directed funding through the Northwest Straits Commission to produce genetically-diverse seed for Sequim Bay (with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe) and Drayton Harbor.

Soon thereafter, Washington Department of Natural Resources provided funding for native oyster enhancement on aquatic reserve lands in Fidalgo Bay in July 2012, and Washington Department of Ecology funded a large-scale, 10-acre restoration project in Port Gamble Bay in 2013 that will include the production of 5,000,000 restoration-grade seed at the new shellfish restoration hatchery.

In 2013, the Governor’s office provided capital funds to purchase seawater monitoring equipment for the new hatchery.

The coordinated efforts are the result of an initiative that brought singular focus to the job of protecting and enhancing shellfish resources in Washington State.

At the suggestion of Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW), and with funding and support from NOAA, The Nature Conservancy, USDA, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, and the Suquamish Tribe, PSRF and a multitude of partners spread shell 2005-2011 across almost 20 acres of tideflats in Liberty Bay to provide settlement structure for native oyster larvae.

According to Brady Blake with WDFW, “extensive monitoring has shown that remnant native oysters scattered in the bay have rapidly re-colonized the restored shell-based habitat exhibiting significant reproductive success, survival, increased abundance including multiple year classes, and colonization of new habitat.   Based on these observations, the results of focused native oyster restoration efforts in Liberty Bay have achieved the minimum thresholds for determining successful restoration identified in WDFW’s 2012 updated Olympia oyster rebuilding plan.  That plan emphasizes re-establishing native oysters at key locations to a threshold where they are naturally self-sustaining, viable populations exhibiting the ability to continue expanding their presence and abundance locally and throughout Puget Sound. By that measure, Liberty Bay provides the model for continued native oyster restoration and research in Washington State.”

For more information, visit: http://restorationfund.org/news/articles/2013.11shellfishinitiative

source: restorationfund.org