Life Sciences Commons^™

Living With The Shoreline: Education For Property Owners, Shannon Davis, Tina Whitman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

As over 90% of shoreline parcels in San Juan County are in private, residential ownership, shoreline property owners are critical caretakers of marine habitats. Information that is provided directly to shoreline property owners can be beneficial to all who enjoy the resources provided by our marine habitats. And in our changing climate, shoreline property owners’ actions can also help improve resilience to the impacts ahead. So, how do you educate shoreline landowners in a manner that engages and inspires them toward positive choices? Friends of the San Juans took on this challenge and created an attractive, positive, and engaging booklet …

Age Truncation And Portfolio Effects In Puget Sound Pacific Herring, Margaret Siple, Andrew O. Shelton, Tessa B. Francis, Dayv Lowry, Adam P. Lindquist, Timothy E. Essington

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Forage fish undergo dramatic changes in abundance through time. Long-term fluctuations, which have historically been attributed to changes in recruitment, may also be due to changes in adult mortality. Pacific herring, a lightly exploited forage fish in Puget Sound, WA, have exhibited shifts in age structure and decreases in spawning biomass during the past 30 years. Here, we investigate changes in adult mortality as a potential explanation for these shifts. Using a hierarchical, age-structured population model, we indicate that adult natural mortality for Puget Sound Pacific herring has increased since 1973. We find that natural mortality has increased for every …

Changes In Harbor And Dall’S Porpoise In Puget Sound, 1990s To Present, David Anderson, Joseph R. Evenson, Laurie Shuster, John Calambokidis

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

No abstract provided.

Changes In Strandings Of Cetaceans In Puget Sound/Salish Sea, Jessica L. Huggins, Amanda Warlick, Stephanie Norman, Jennifer Olson, Dyanna M. Lambourn, Joseph K. Gaydos, John Calambokidis

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

No abstract provided.

Advances In Understanding The Drivers Of Change And Potential Conservation Actions For Pacific Herring In The Salish Sea, Tessa B. Francis

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Advances in Understanding the Drivers of Change and Potential Conservation Actions for Pacific Herring in the Salish Sea

This session offered the latest results from researchers in the USA and Canada based upon cutting-edge approaches to understanding what limits Pacific herring populations in the Salish Sea, which are in decline in many places, and what management actions can be taken to ensure their recovery and conservation.

Margaret (Megsie) Siple described the importance of population diversity in Pacific herring for maintaining their overall stability (i.e., portfolio effects), and presented population model results showing increased adult mortality and age truncation (i.e., loss …

Biological Impacts Of Underwater Noise From Vessels, Kathy Heise

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

No abstract provided.

Return Of The Giants Of The Salish Sea: Increased Occurrence Of Humpback And Gray Whales In Inland Waters, John Calambokidis, Kiirsten Flynn, Elana Dobson, Jessica L. Huggins, Alie Perez

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

No abstract provided.

Dolphins In The Salish Sea: Are Warmer Water Species Expanding Into Our Region?, Laurie Shuster, David Anderson, Jessica L. Huggins, Annie B. Douglas, Nathan Harrison, John Calambokidis, Susan Berta

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

No abstract provided.

Techniques For Understory Kelp Salvage And Recolonization Of Disturbed Sites To Mitigate Temporal Habitat Loss, Ashley Park, Gina Lemieux, Brian Emmett, Doug Mcmillan, Peter Troffe, Shauna Davis, Michael Bodman, Mike Waters, Cliff Robinson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Defence Construction Canada, on behalf of the Department of National Defence (DND), undertook dredging in Constance Cove, Esquimalt Harbour, as part of DND's multi-year, harbour-wide sediment remediation program. One of the mitigation measures recently implemented with the Constance Cove remedial dredging is the salvage of understory kelp within the project's dredge footprint prior to the dredging; the relocation of salvaged material to a temporary storage area, and restocking once construction is complete. These kelp salvage measures are intended to address impacts of temporal fish habitat loss due to dredging activities in an area with an existing kelp bed, and to …

From Data To Decisions: Navigating The “So What?” And “What’S Next?” Conversation Around Nearshore Data, Dawn Spilsbury Pucci

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Ever wonder what happens to all those data being collected? In Island County, we are fortunate to be the focus of a plethora of data collection efforts. We have comprehensive nearshore assessments that describe where our habitats are and how those habitats are built. We have habitat assessments that are a collaborative effort between citizen science groups and state agencies. We have long-term status and trends data sets on intertidal habitats and presence for a few specific species. We have a high resolution shoreline armor dataset and we have a predictive probability model for coastal flood risk. But what do …

Understanding And Managing Underwater Noise From Vessel Activities, Michelle Sanders, Jeff Pelton

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Part B Presentation Topic: Understanding and Managing Underwater Noise from Vessel Activities. Abstract A complex mix of threats have resulted in nineteen of Canada’s whale populations being listed under the Species at Risk Act, including eight as endangered. Factors such as insufficient access to food, contaminants, and acoustic and physical disturbance – including vessel noise and vessel strikes - have contributed to population declines and hindered recovery, particularly for three of these endangered species - the Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW), the St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga, and the North Atlantic Right Whale. In November 2016, the Prime Minister of Canada …

Survival Of Hatchery-Origin Juvenile Pinto Abalone (Haliotis Kamtschatkana) Outplanted To Restoration Sites In The San Juan Islands, Henry Carson, Michael Ulrich, Josh Bouma

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Puget Sound Restoration Fund, and other project partners have outplanted thousands of hatchery-reared pinto abalone in annual cohorts to ten sites in the San Juan Archipelago since 2009. We measured the “success” of each outplant site by the proportion of total juveniles placed that survived to a reproductive size. In winter 2017 surveys we observed a range of successes, from 0% at the worst site to 5.6% at the best. When nearby individuals are included, this success ranges as high as 7.5%. These percentages do not account for the probability of detection for …

Urban-Related Distribution Patterns Of An Iconic Salish Sea Mesopredator, The Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus Dofleini), Eliza C. Heery, Amy G. Olsen, Blake E. (Blake Edward) Feist, Kenneth P. Sebens

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Like many coastal areas globally, the Salish Sea has undergone rapid urbanization over recent decades. Terrestrial research suggests urbanization facilitates a variety of mesopredators by enhancing food and shelter resources and by limiting apex predation. Yet urbanization’s effect on mesopredators in the marine environment has rarely been examined. The giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is an iconic mesopredator of the Pacific Northwest due to its size and cognition, and is thought to reach a particularly large maximum size in inland waters of the Salish Sea. We examined the spatial distribution patterns and habitat use of giant Pacific octopus in Puget …

A Collaborative Approach For Evaluating Agricultural Contributions To Nonpoint Source Pollution In The Deschutes Watershed, South Puget Sound, Stephen Bramwell, Nicole Warren

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The 2015 Deschutes River Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report by the Washington State Department of Ecology (ECY) recommended actions to improve water quality parameters in this watershed, including reduction of agricultural non-point source pollution. Farmers in the watershed were suspected of contributing to violations of state water quality standards for fecal coliform and nutrient loading, among other parameters, but basic information on crop production, livestock numbers and stocking rates, and the presence or absence of exclusion fencing, among other data, was unavailable. A local research effort was initiated in 2016 to address these issues. A local collaboration was established …

Lessons From Long Time-Series Of Benthic Invertebrate Communities In The Southern Salish Sea, And An Expansion Of Parameters To Assess Nutrient Loading And Climate Change Pressures, Valerie Partridge, Margaret Dutch, Sandra Weakland, Dany Burgess, Angela Eagleston

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Changes in habitat and benthic invertebrates indicate responses of the ecosystem to stressors. Since 1989, the Washington State Department of Ecology has monitored sediments and benthic invertebrate communities annually at ten sentinel stations. This is a unique and important dataset, providing yearly insights into benthic community structure and abundance cycles of individual species. Except where events destabilized the habitats and communities, the sediments at these ten long-term stations, and the invertebrate communities inhabiting them, have largely remained stable over time, though with some drift and cycles in species composition and abundance. A few of these long-term stations, however, have experienced …

Did The Rules Work? An Assessment On The Effectiveness Of Federal Vessel Regulations For Southern Resident Killer Whales, Teresa Mongillo, Grace Ferrara, Lynne Barre

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Pacific Northwest are the principal target species for a commercial whale watch industry and encounter a variety of other vessels in their urban environment. The population was listed as endangered in 2005 due to limited prey, high levels of contaminants, and disturbance from vessels and sound. There has been a growing body of evidence documenting effects from vessels on small cetaceans and other marine mammals including behavioral disturbance, physiological impacts, and acoustic interference. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Recovery Plan identified actions to address vessel impacts, including vessel regulations. In 2011, …

Recent Progress Toward Reducing Seawalls In Puget Sound, Doris J. Small, Hugh Shipman, Jenna Jewett, Nathalie Hamel

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Recovery efforts for Puget Sound have focused on improving shoreline function by reducing seawalls (e.g. rock and concrete bank protection) and encouraging alternatives, such as soft shore protection. Shoreline armor was one of the key stressors identified by the Puget Sound Partnership in 2010 to protect and restore habitat. Armor is one of the Puget Sound Vital Signs, those measures used by the Puget Sound Partnership to track ecosystem health. One of the targets associated with the Vital Sign, a net reduction of the total extent of armor between 2011 and 2020, is tracked using the Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) …

Application Of Genomics To Develop A Monitoring Tool For Stormwater Treatment Wetlands, Jessica Lenoble, Chris Johnston, James Atwater, Susan Baldwin

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Urban stormwater treatment wetlands benefit communities because they filter pollutants from receiving waters and provide habitat for urban wildlife and birds. The installation of wetlands is often avoided because stormwater quality is highly variable, which makes it both challenging and expensive to ensure that the wetlands are effectively mitigating the impacts of stormwater runoff. For decades, macroscopic species, such as benthic invertebrates, have been used as biological indicators of watershed health. With recent advancements in genomics (the branch of science that studies the function and structure of DNA within a single cell), it may now be feasible to use microscopic …

How 19 Years Of Bc Coastal Waterbird Citizen Science Data Is Informing Conservation Planning, Karen Devitt, James Casey

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Fraser River Estuary Important Bird and Biodiversity Area consisting of Sturgeon Bank, Roberts Bank, Boundary Bay and upland areas was designated in 2016 as an IBA in Danger by Birdlife International. The designation is based on the myriad of threats across the delta that have developed despite several transboundary and international designations of the region including a Ramsar Wetland of International Significance listing since 1982 and a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site designation since 2004. Despite these listings, declines in coastal waterbirds continue. The Coastal Waterbird Surveys have been running along the BC portion of the Salish Sea …

Characterizing Underwater Radiated Noise From Pacific Whale Watch Association Vessels, David Hannay, Brett Soberg

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The commercial whale watch industry is interested in understanding the nature of underwater noise produced by whale watch vessels, to help their operators minimize noise emissions. Most focus on vessel-related noise has been on large commercial shipping vessels, with very little attention paid to the smaller vessel types used for commercial whale watching and for recreational purposes. Whale watch companies need this information to guide choices of equipment, such as propulsion systems, to minimize noise emissions that lead to exposures of the marine fauna that are the focus of their industry. In summer 2017, several Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) …

Salish Sea Bull Kelp Restoration Research: Local, Regional And International Collaborations, William Heath, Sherryl Bisgrove

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Bull kelp forests are important nearshore habitats for many fish and invertebrates and are an integral part of the “salmon highway” from river to estuary to ocean and back. In recent decades kelp forests have been in serious decline in the Salish Sea and other coastal regions. Research to improve our understanding of causes of the decline and on restoration methods began in the north Salish Sea in 2011 with a kelp out-planting project by Nile Creek Enhancement Society(NCES) at Hornby Island. NCES and Project Watershed began a collaboration in 2015 with work in the K'omoks Estuary and Cape Lazo …

A Tale Of Two Sea Stars: Recovery (Ochre Star) Or Endangerment (Sunflower Star) Following The 2014 Epidemic, Miranda Winningham, Morgan E. Eisenlord, Joseph K. Gaydos, Diego Montecino-Latorre, Janna Nichols, Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Catherine D. Harvell

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

During the summers of 2013 and 2014, populations of sea stars along the west coast from Alaska to Mexico were decimated by the sea star wasting disease (SSWD) epizootic. Two of the most highly affected species along this range are Pisaster ochraceus (the ochre star), the most common intertidal species, and Pycnopodia helianthoides (the sunflower star), the most common subtidal species, both of which are endemic to the western coast of the U.S. For the ochre star, in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, we measured high case fatality rates associated with disease prevalence over 90% during the summer …

Salmon-Safe Farms, Ellen Southard, Amelia Bahr

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Stewardship Partners recognizes the crucial role farmers play in the protection of our watersheds and salmon populations, leading us to implement the Salmon-Safe program in Washington in 2004 to support landowners who are promoting and practicing sustainable land management to combat environmental degradation. To date, we have added more than 100 different Washington State farms and vineyards to the program — ensuring the restoration and maintenance of watershed health across tens of thousands of agricultural acres. Since the major salmon streams in the Puget Sound basin flow through the most productive agricultural valleys, conservation efforts aimed at protecting salmon and …

Bringing High Resolution Land Cover Products To The Puget Sound Region And U.S., Melissa Rosa

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Understanding land cover patterns and their changes is essential to comprehensive natural resource management and conservation planning. Land cover products derived from satellite imagery and other remotely sensed data can provide information for resource inventories and assessments, track progress of management plans, and monitor impacts of ecosystem change at the landscape scale. For almost two decades, NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management has been using satellite imagery to produce standardized, regional land cover and change information for the coastal U.S. through its Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP). C-CAP products are updated every five years and provide additional wetland categories for nearshore …

Declines In Puget Sound Sediment-Dwelling Communities And A New Focus On Climate, Nutrient, And Other Ecosystem Stressors, Sandra Weakland, Valerie Partridge, Margaret Dutch, Dany Burgess, Angela Eagleston

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Washington State Department of Ecology has been collecting data on Puget Sound sediment-dwelling (benthic) invertebrates since 1989, as part of the Marine Sediment Monitoring Program. Benthic organisms serve key functions, including processing and storage of organic material and cycling of nutrients needed by other components of the ecosystem. Benthic invertebrates are an integral part of the marine food web and biogeochemical processes that support salmon, orcas, and humans and are a key component of the Puget Sound ecosystem. We are finding significant declines in the overall condition of benthic communities, with 44% of the study area adversely affected. Many …

Designing Data Collection For Decision-Making: Shaping The Coastal First Nations Regional Monitoring System To Meet The Needs Of The Nations, Erica Olson, Brendan Connors, Lara Hoshizaki, Jana Kotaska, Darcy Pickard, Marc Nelitz, Amy Groesbeck, Jordan Benner, Katherine Kellock, Anton Pitts

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Coastal First Nations (CFN) Regional Monitoring System (RMS) was redeveloped to support decisions related to threats to ecological and cultural values, resulting from changes to existing and impending resource use on the North and Central Coast of British Columbia. As First Nations reassert their governance authority, participate in shared decision-making with other governments, undertake land and marine use planning, and manage their territories and resources, the need for coordinated regional monitoring efforts are increasingly important. We used a systematic and inclusive strategy to determine a suitable monitoring approach to meet the needs of a diverse group of Nations across …

Using Surface Elevation Tables And Marker Horizons To Evaluate Resiliency And Trajectories Of Tidal Marshes And Restoration Projects In The Snohomish River Estuary, Devin Robinson, Jason Hall, Joshua Chamberlin, Todd Zachery, Casimir Rice

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The abundance of tidal wetlands has been increasingly impacted by environmental changes, human alterations and sea-level rise around the world. Elevation and sediment dynamics control tidal wetland vegetation colonization, assemblages, resiliency, and recovery trajectories. Seal level rise and hydromodifications may threaten the resiliency of existing tidal marshes, and impact the recovery trajectories of restoration projects. The Snohomish river delta currently supports the second largest extent of tidal wetlands in the Puget Sound, and has become the focus of what could be the largest cumulative estuary restoration effort in Puget Sound. However, we currently know very little about elevation and sediment …

The Pacific Salmon Explorer: A Data Driven Look At Salmon Populations And Their Habitats, Katrina Connors, Eileen Jones, Leah Honka, Katy Kellock, Eric Hertz, Brian E. Riddell

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The lack of a centralized, standardized, and easily accessible repository of information on the state of natural resources, and threats to them, can undermine efforts to make informed, transparent, and evidenced-based management and conservation decisions. This is the case with Pacific salmon in British Columbia (BC), where a lack of information on the current status of salmon population and their habitats is undermining public confidence in the ability of government agencies to sustainability manage Pacific salmon populations. In an effort to provide broader public access to salmon datasets, the Pacific Salmon Foundation embarked on a major initiative to synthesize the …

Quantifying Marine Vessel Traffic From Aerial Surveys In The Salish Sea, Norma Serra-Sogas, Patrick O'Hara, Rosaline Canessa, Lauren Mcwhinnie

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

There are a number of potential impacts associated with vessel traffic on marine ecosystems, including noise and oil pollution, ship-strikes, and fishing and fisheries bycatch. To assess these impacts, many studies employ marine traffic data collected using Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) onboard vessels. However, AIS only captures a fraction of the actual marine traffic because it omits many of the smaller vessels, which are not legally required to carry AIS. Without this information, the assessment of vessel-associated impacts based on AIS is inherently flawed, and underestimated. The NEMES (Noise Exposure to the Marine Environment from Ships) project is particularly interested …

Puget Sound Habitat Status And Trends Monitoring Program: Nearshore And Large River Delta Geospatial Data And Habitat Status And Trends Monitoring Metrics, Jason E. Hall, Alex Stefankiv, Britta Timpane-Padgham, Martin Liermann, T. J. (Tim J.) Beechie, George R. Pess

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Puget Sound Habitat Status and Trends Monitoring (PSHSTM) program was developed to provide consistent salmon habitat status and trends data to support status reviews of Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed salmon populations across Puget Sound’s major population groups. Our approach primarily relies on readily available and regularly updated aerial imagery to consistently map key habitat features at a regional scale. We have developed a census-based approach to map key habitat features throughout the nearshore, large river delta, large river, and floodplain environments across Puget Sound. This presentation will focus on our mapping efforts in Puget Sound’s nearshore and large …