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2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference Media Coverage March - April 2007
Kitsap Sun: Hood Canal Secrets Revealed The Associated Press: Study suggests natural high-low oxygen cycle in Hood Canal Central Kitsap Reporter: Hood Canal faces fragile future Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Planners think waterfront has room for both people and baby salmon Seattle Times: Hormonal chemicals may be imperiling fish Olympic Peninsula Environmental News blog (Reprint of Press Release) KPLU Radio: Growing Toxic Threat to Orcas Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (Link to Conference site) Seattle Conscious Choice: 30 things to do in March (Calendar Listing) Canadian Media Coverage March 2007 Times Colonist: Sport Fishermen Call for Cull of Harbor Seals Vancouver Sun: Straights Initiative Targets Abandoned Fishing Gear Vancouver Sun: Authorities Warned of Shellfish Parasites Kitsap Sun: Hood Canal Secrets RevealedApril 25, 2007 http://www.kitsapsun.com/bsun/local/article/0,2403,BSUN_19088_5503118,00.html *Story was picked up by Associated Press, see below
Hood Canal Secrets Revealed
Researchers were able to reconstruct low-oxygen conditions that once spanned over decades.
By Christopher Dunagan, cdunagan@kitsapsun.com April 25, 2007
Hood Canal
Photo courtesy of Battelle Marine Science Laboratory Researcher Eric Crecelius prepares a sediment core taken from the bottom of Hood Canal. Sediments can provide information about oxygen conditions in Hood Canal going back hundreds of years.
Hood Canal, known for a series of rapid fish kills in recent years, has lived through a natural cycle of high and low oxygen levels dating back more than three centuries, a new study shows.
The study examined sediments deposited over time at the bottom of Hood Canal. Researchers removed 10-foot-deep cores and read the sediments like a diary, uncovering stories about chemical reactions and plant life dominating the landscape at various times.
Principle scientists were Eric Crecelius and Jill Brandenberger of the Battelle Marine Science Laboratory in Sequim.
One potentially alarming result is that the last 50 years may have been a time of relatively high oxygen levels in Hood Canal, despite the recent fish kills. What that foretells for the future is anybody’s guess.
Brandenberger said the discovery of natural oxygen cycles does not mean that humans aren’t part of the equation today.
It could mean, she said, "that the system in Hood Canal is in a delicate balance and that any additional input from man can upset that balance."
The new study, yet to be published, shows periods of very low oxygen levels in the early 1700s, early 1800s and early 1900s. Because of natural sediment mixing, the researchers could not draw conclusions about changes taking place over less than 10 to 20 years.
During periods of low oxygen, one might expect a greater frequency of fish kills compared with periods of high oxygen, the researchers said. But fish kills in Hood Canal are considered a specific event, probably tied to a shift in winds.
Winds coming from the south in Hood Canal tend to blow away surface waters and force low-oxygen water out of the depths, leaving fish no place to go. As a result, fish can die from lack of oxygen even near the surface.
"A fish kill," said Crecelius, "is really a manifestation of low-oxygen conditions. We can’t say whether there were fish kills during any period of time in the past."
The key to determining relative levels of oxygen was measuring chemical changes that took place in the water. When more oxygen was present, certain chemicals were produced in greater amounts, leaving a sediment record.
A low-oxygen period in the mid-1800s also was observed in the main channel of Puget Sound, east of the Kitsap Peninsula. But conditions were "not as dramatic," Crecelius said.
The researchers found a relationship between periods of low oxygen and ocean currents known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, named for cycles that usually recur over 10 or more years. A cooler period from the 1940s into the 1970s may have resulted in higher oxygen levels in Hood Canal, the scientists said.
Nothing in the sediments reveals anything about what is happening now, Crecelius said. But humans could be playing a role by contributing nitrogen from sewage, fertilizers and other sources.
"At this point, we can’t say how important is man’s input to Hood Canal, in addition to the natural cycle," Crecelius said. "Man should make an effort to reduce nutrient inputs, because many other studies show how (they) cause low oxygen in many water bodies."
Jan Newton, a University of Washington oceanographer, is leading a multimillion-dollar study into how Hood Canal works — including effects of currents, weather, plankton growth, ocean conditions, river flows and other factors. The result will be a computer model designed to help solve the puzzle.
While the historical work is important, Newton said, "there are many mechanisms that can cause hypoxia (low oxygen), and it is difficult for us to know what was causing it in the 1800s."
The sediment diary developed by Crecelius and Brandenberger was funded as part of the overall Hood Canal project. It can show that logging of Douglas fir trees increased the levels of pollen deposited by the alder trees that replaced them. For Puget Sound, that shift occurred in the early 1900s. A less dramatic shift was seen in Hood Canal around the 1930s.
The studies so far have focused on the main channel of Hood Canal north of Hoodsport, partly because of excessive mixing near the Skokomish River. Further studies are being planned in the southern arm of the canal, including Lynch Cove, where low currents may have laid down sediments with greater precision.
Others lending expertise to the study were Patrick Louchouarn of Texas A&M University, Sherri Cooper of Bryn Athyn College, Kristin McDougall of the U.S. Geological Survey and Estella Leopold and Liu Gengwu of the University of Washington.
Copyright 2007, kitsapsun.com. All Rights Reserved.
The Associated Press: Study suggests natural high-low oxygen cycle in Hood CanalApril 25, 2007
Study suggests natural high-low oxygen cycle in Hood Canal The Associated Press
Deposits at the bottom of Hood Canal suggest a natural cycle of high and low oxygen levels, and the last 50 years have been on the high side despite recent fish kills, according to a recent unpublished study.
The study done by the Battelle Marine Science Laboratory in Sequim could shed light on recent fish die-offs in the glacier-gouged fjord between the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, the Kitsap Sun reported Wednesday.
The principal scientists in the research, Eric Crecelius and Jill Brandenberger, told the newspaper that 10-foot core samples of sediment from the floor of the canal north of Hoodsport indicate oxygen levels in the water have generally been very low in the early 1700s, 1800s and 1900s and high in the latter part each century.
A low-oxygen period also apparently occurred in the main channel of Puget Sound in the mid-1800s but was "not as dramatic," Crecelius said.
Natural sediment mixing prevented researchers from reaching conclusions for periods less than 10 to 20 years, he and Brandenberger said.
The study did not indicate whether fish kills have been associated with low-oxygen periods in the cycle, Crecelius said.
"At this point, we can't say how important is man's input to Hood Canal, in addition to the natural cycle," he added. "Man should make an effort to reduce nutrient inputs because many other studies show how (they) cause low oxygen in many water bodies."
The findings could mean "that the system in Hood Canal is in a delicate balance and that any additional input from man can upset that balance." Brandenberger said.
The research, which have not been published in a scientific journal, likely provides answers to only part of the puzzle, said Jan A. Newton, a University of Washington oceanographer who is leading a multimillion dollar study of currents, weather, plankton growth, ocean conditions, river flows and other factors affecting Hood Canal.
"There are many mechanisms that can cause hypoxia (low oxygen), and it is difficult for us to know what was causing it in the 1800s," Newton said.
One reason for the ambiguity in the findings is that fish kills can stem at least partly from shifting winds, the scientists said.
Most of Hood Canal runs generally north-south, so winds from the south toward the open end in the north remove more water from the surface, causing an upwelling of water containing less oxygen from the depths and killing fish even near the surface, they explained.
The study also indicated a relationship between low-oxygen periods and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a shift in ocean temperatures and currents over periods of at least a decade. A cooler period from the 1940s into the 1970s may have resulted in higher oxygen levels in Hood Canal, the scientists said.
Information from: Kitsap Sun, http://www.kitsapsun.com/ Picked up by: Bellingham Heraldhttp://www.bellinghamherald.com/203/story/63792.html The Olympianhttp://www.theolympian.com/130/story/89024.html The Columbianhttp://www.columbian.com/news/state/APStories/AP04252007news131610.cfm KGW.comhttp://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8ONL7MG0.html OregonLive.comExaminer.comhttp://www.examiner.com/a-693620~Study_suggests_natural_high_low_oxygen_cycle_in_Hood_Canal.html SeattlePI.comhttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Hood_Canal.html Tri-CityHerald.comhttp://www.hydroracing.com/tch/local/state/story/8825705p-8726584c.html Washington House Democratshttp://housedemocrats.wa.gov/eclips.asp UWNews.comhttp://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/newscitations.asp?sdate=1/1/2006 Tacoma News Tribunehttp://www.thenewstribune.com/713/story/48929.html KOMOTV.comhttp://www.komotv.com/news/7184136.html KONP.comhttp://www.konp.com/local/2781 SpokemanReview.comhttp://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=186646
Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal: USGS correlate urban metrics with reduced Herring spawn in Liberty BayApril 9, 2007 http://www.kpbj.com/headlines/articles/2007-04-09-HED-10.html
ENVIRONMENTAL USGS correlate urban metrics with reduced Herring spawn in Liberty Bay By Kathleen Byrne-Barrantes
United States Geological Survey (USGS) scientists presented preliminary evidence that links shoreline development to reduction of herring spawn (observed egg deposits) in Liberty Bay and Port Orchard at the Puget Sound-Georgia Basin Research Conference held in Vancouver, B.C. March 26-29.
Raymond D. Watts, USGS Fort Collins Science Center, Colorado and Vivian Queija, USGS Pacific Geography Science Center, Seattle used data from Kitsap County and from the Washington State Departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife to associate indicators of shoreline development with sample points along the shoreline.
By evaluating statistical relationships of these indicators to presence or absence of offshore herring spawn, the scientists hypothesized that shoreline development reduces the probability of observing herring spawn.
“Using geography on an urban-regional scale, we seem a little more like social scientists than natural scientists,” said Queija, the team’s geographer and co-investigator in the study. USGS scientists collecting samples along transect on the east coast of Liberty Bay just outside Poulsbo city limits
“We are looking at indicators of urbanization that really relate to the shoreline, as opposed to previous work that relied heavily on impervious pave,” explained Queija.
“The pattern of urban development has been parcel density that maximized the amount of people to the shoreline and this disruption has systematically changed the system.”
By statistically testing herring spawn against parcel density, then adding other variables such as shoreline modifications, examining sediment samples and looking at vegetative land cover, incorporating and comparing historical information, these scientists hope to look back in time at changes over the past forty years.
The preliminary findings demonstrated that while shoreline modification may generally suppress spawn, it is likely to affect other species to a greater degree than herring, particularly those species that spawn on the beach rather than in intertidal and subtidal waters.
In this study, parcel density indicators had the highest (negative) correlation with herring spawn. Clearly, the probability of herring spawn diminishes as parcel density increases; indicating that much of the shoreline in this section of Puget Sound is poised for significantly diminished herring spawn probability if development density is increased. The preliminary study concluded that when processes that connect development to spawn are better understood then it may be possible to design and build shoreline development with less impact on herring. Further work will expand the geographic area of analysis to see whether similar results apply more broadly across Puget Sound.
The USGS relationship with the Puget Sound Partnership is through participation in the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project (PSNERP: www.pugetsoundnearshore.org). The primary USGS role for PSNERP is to provide science in support of restoration and preservation of nearshore ecosystems. Since PSNERP began (2001) it has attracted considerable attention and support from a diverse group of individuals and organizations interested and involved in improving the health of Puget Sound nearshore ecosystems and the biological, cultural, and economic resources they support. The Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership is the name chosen to describe this growing and diverse group that supports the goals of PSNERP, but has goals beyond the scope of the PSNERP.
”While this year the focus has been on forage-fish spawning and beach characteristics, I would like to add that scientists from all four of the USGS Disciplines — Biology, Geography, Geology, and Water — have been contributing to that work,” said Richard S. Dinicola, Ground-Water Specialist, USGS Washington Water Science Center in Tacoma.
”Additional work we have planned for this year will include a graduate student from Stanford University partnering with us to investigate the occurrence of pharmaceutical and personal care products in local waters. Sampling devices for those chemicals were deployed during January at two locations in lower Dogfish Creek,” added Dinicola.
During April and May, USGS scientists will be monitoring wave action and water clarity (turbidity) within a few eelgrass beds outside of Liberty Bay to see if light levels are limiting the growth of the eelgrass and locating and measuring ground-water discharge to Liberty Bay and nearby waters to determine (1) if sand lance and surf smelt spawning is associated with ground-water discharge rates to intertidal beaches, (2) if eelgrass growth is associated with ground-water discharge rates to subtidal areas, and (3) the overall contribution of ground water to Liberty Bay.
The “Biological Resources Discipline” including Theresa L Liedtke, the team’s fish biologist, together with Colin Smith and Lisa Gee of the Columbia River Research Laboratory in Cook, has sampled about 10 km of beach shoreline, from Oyster Plant Park to Point Bolin.
“20 beaches were randomly selected, and at each beach we have collected information like presence/absence of shoreline armoring, shade, beach material (sand, mud, cobble, gravel), presence of large woody debris, condition of the area upland of the beach (roadway, landscaped yard, forested), and sources of freshwater,” explained Liedtke, “then we collected beach material samples to look for forage fish eggs.”
They are currently working through those samples hoping to develop a model that will allow a look at some beach variables (like those listed above) and make a prediction of how likely it is that forage fish will spawn on that beach.
“The model will help us to understand what variables are most linked with spawning, and hopefully that will allow us to protect those aspects. For example, it may show that the presence of shade is tightly linked with forage fish spawning — that would suggest that we need to make sure spawning beaches maintain some shade,” said Liedtke, “Our plan for future years is to continue to sample other locations to make the model more robust.”
The next effort in Liberty Bay will be this summer when all the disciplines will be in the field again, sampling and taking a look at influences on food web dynamics related to urban effects.
“I think it’s important to remind people that USGS just does the science, and that we have no management responsibilities. We won’t be the agency that writes or enforces the rules that may eventually be developed to protect shoreline areas — that’s not our role. We do the research and provide data to the management agencies,” Liedtke concluded. Central Kitsap Reporter: Hood Canal faces fragile futureApril 7, 2007 http://www.centralkitsapreporter.com/ Search for “Hood Canal faces fragile future” on home page
Hood Canal faces fragile future By Erin Beil
Beneath the glittering surface of the Hood Canal and under the white-capped rippling waves lies a fragile ecosystem that is fighting a losing battle of warming weather trends and human use.
The Hood Canal has been a food source, recreational setting and peaceful retreat hundreds of years. However, under its calm waters, the levels of salt and nutrients are changing constantly, causing a constant disrupt to fragile marine ecosystems.
Factors such as constant use, decreased water circulation, sea water density and river runoff are changing the levels of nutrients in the Hood Canal, in-turn decreasing the amounts of dissolved oxygen, which is used to help break down organic materials such as fish carcasses.
“It’s (caused by) a combination of factors, which is an area we’re actively researching,” said University of Washington Principal Oceanographer Jan Newton. “The Hood Canal is one of the most sensitive areas for the Puget Sound.”
Newton added that the particular problem the Hood Canal is currently facing is a lack in dissolved oxygen (DO). Although she said some years have been worse than others, a current three-year study is in place through this year to help determine why the nutrient levels are so high and DO levels so low.
The study is far from easy, and Newton said the cause of this problem doesn’t boil down to any one answer. Before any answers could be determined, Newton said the group of marine scientists studying the Hood Canal had to first understand the different water layers, known as stratification.
Temperature and mass from dissolved salts of the water is what determine its density. Similar to oil on water, warm, fresh water will float on top of cold, salty water. Due to sunlight and freshwater sources, such as rivers, entering from the top, layers of water are created called stratification. Due to winds and tides of the Hood Canal, it maintains a stratified condition through the year. Because of the depth of the Hood Canal, it takes a substantial length of time for the water layers to circulate.
With such a slow circulation period, water is sealed off from the surface. Although it has high productivity, the organic materials of the Hood Canal are very plentiful. Low DO levels help to break down these materials, but have increased difficulty if nutrient levels are high.
“Nutrients have a definite affect,” Newton said. “They affect the amount of stratification, create more of a barrier, and prevent oxygen from getting to the bottom.”
Newton said the problem is that scientists currently don’t know how much the factors of stratification, nutrient levels, organic material size and slow circulation are contributing to low oxygen concentrations. Once organic material has settled at the bottom of the Hood Canal, Newton said bacteria break it down, needing oxygen to do so. However, the more organic material that is produced, the more bacteria is needed to break it down causing a depletion in oxygen levels.
“(Dissolved oxygen levels) are on a seasonal cycle, some years are worse than others,” Newton said. “There’s not much we can do (if) this is caused naturally but better predict what years are good and get a better sense of what the Hood Canal will look like.”
Newton said that the DO levels appear to be worse now than they have been historically, and are beginning to have adverse effects on marine life.
Hypothesized factors that Newton listed in a slideshow presentation included DO could be caused by the ocean sending in water with lower oxygen levels or water with lighter density causing the Hood Canal to not flush quickly or effectively. Newton added that it could be river flow is low, decreasing the stratification of water layers, or organic material is increasing. The main river that flows into the Hood Canal is the Skokomish River, which has had a substantially altered flow in recent years.
Although all of these options have supporting evidence and could be what’s causing the nutrient and DO problems, Newton said they don’t know quantitatively which are driving the system or what potential corrective actions to take.
“It is not 100 percent humans or 100 percent natural,” she added.
Local, state and federal agencies, tribal governments, non–profit organizations and the University of Washington have come together to form the Hood Canal Low Dissolved Oxygen Program (HCDOP) with a goal to determine the sources of the low dissolved oxygen in Hood Canal and its affect on marine life. The project, which has had almost $4.5 million budgeted for studies and research, was primarily funded with federal dollars secured by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Belfair) and personal donations.
Current actions of observation include freshwater sampling, historical comparisons of DO and nutrient levels, diver observation and citizen monitoring. Oceanic Remote Chemical-optical Analyzer (ORCA) buoys also have been dispersed throughout the Hood Canal to analyze water quality, a mechanism developed by the University of Washington.
With DO and an increase in nutrients still under investigation, Newton said the public can help by becoming aware of the problem. Monetary donations also are appreciated to help fund continuing research projects and methods to determine a solution.
“We anticipate and will make recordings at the end of the three years how best we can mediate this condition,” Newton said.
To contribute to the Friends of Hood Canal Fund, visit www.cofs.washington.edu/support.html. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Planners think waterfront has room for both people and baby salmonApril 2, 2007 http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/309896_waterfront02.html
Planners think waterfront has room for both people and baby salmon
Monday, April 2, 2007
By ROBERT MCCLURE P-I REPORTER
It was one of those stunning spring afternoons at the Seattle waterfront, the Olympics crisp against a rainless horizon, the ferries abuzz on Elliott Bay, the lunch crowd strolling Alaskan Way.
But at Waterfront Park just south of the Seattle Aquarium, the only visitor was a raucous sea gull.
The seawall was removed and a beach was installed on the Seattle waterfront near Myrtle Edwards Park, creating a more fish-friendly shoreline on the heavily industrialized urban waterfront.
"This place is off the public's radar screen," Seattle parks planner David Graves said. "It's a shame."
Now, though, city planners are getting ready to propose choices that could return two kinds of visitors to Seattle's central waterfront -- people and baby salmon. The two-legged set would come for a nicer waterfront, the fingerlings for a more natural shoreline.
"It really provides an opportunity to work well with the Aquarium," Graves said. "You can take schoolkids out there and say, 'This is what Puget Sound looks like.' "
Faced with rotting pilings below Waterfront Park and nearby city-owned Piers 62 and 63, city parks officials in coming months will outline their vision for a fix to the City Council. It could become part of a larger rethinking of restoring Elliott Bay's shorelines. An inkling of what could be accomplished came to life recently at Olympic Sculpture Park, where a small slice of beach was re-created.
"I would like the whole shoreline to look just like this," said Seattle resident Jay Wellington, who was visiting the new beach on a recent afternoon.
While that sweeping vision is well outside what city planners are talking about, they do hope to create more places where young salmon can hang out in shallow water, feed and bulk up before their trip to sea. Salmon that eat well when they're young are more likely to return and spawn, research shows.
But in Elliott Bay, shorelines where fish can hit the aquatic buffet table have largely been done in by development.
"Urban habitat enhancement is important. ... It's a big opportunity," consultant Paul Schlenger of Anchor Environmental told environmental scientists and others last week at the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conference. "There are also significant constraints."
Looming large on that list, Schlenger said, are the contamination of mud by years of waterfront industrial activity, and the fact that only a portion of the waterfront is slated for renovation: the area around Piers 62 and 63, where the Summer Nights at the Pier concerts were held just north of the aquarium, and at Waterfront Park to its south.
Paul Joseph Brown / P-I The Seattle waterfront, as seen from the Bainbridge Island ferry.
Despite the obstacles, Schlenger said, "We cannot throw up our hands and say, 'We can't work in this.' We have to make opportunities."
Critics say the city isn't thinking big enough.
Environmentalists and City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck argue that planners are moving too quickly to redevelop areas on either side of the aquarium -- where pier supports are rotting -- without considering the big picture.
"Even though the plans have some good aspects to them, that's one very important piece of the entire waterfront. That's the key central nugget," said Heather Trim of the environmental group People for Puget Sound. "It really needs to be tied into the whole vision. That's really a big concern."
Steinbrueck said would be worth developing a comprehensive waterfront plan before moving ahead with the pier-replacement job, which is expected to cost at least $30 million.
"This is one of our best opportunities for restoring nearshore marine habitat," Steinbrueck said. "We can give people a sense of ... the tidal action and the experience with the sea."
Ideas the council will review in coming months for Waterfront Park would range up to doing exactly that. Steinbrueck argues the concept should be expanded to the aquarium's north side, eliminating Piers 62 and 63. "Waterfront Park is very small," Steinbrueck said. "It's hard to create a beachlike setting in that area that's meaningful."
As for the Summer Nights concerts, Steinbrueck says they could be held at a reconfigured Colman Dock nearby, where Washington State Ferries already is planning a rebuild. In Steinbrueck's vision, the state would help pay for creating natural shoreline next to the aquarium in order to get federal permission to cover more water in the Colman Dock rebuild.
Environmentalists and scientists point out that local governments are under the gun to boost the number of endangered salmon on the nearby Duwamish River. If that works, it will mean more baby salmon -- hungry baby salmon -- coming to Elliott Bay in years to come.
"We can no longer turn our backs on the highly urbanized areas," said Trim, the activist. "It's important to get some natural or created artificial habitat."
One problem with creating a sandy beach, is that it won't be naturally replenished by sand washing downhill, as in natural areas. The more ambitious the restoration project, the more work it would take to keep up.
Waiting longer while a big waterfront vision is articulated would push back the pier-replacement project, which already is expected to last until about 2012, Graves said. Already all major uses of the piers have been discontinued, and a city report said nearly three-fifths of the pilings under Piers 62 and 63 are moderately to severely damaged, with many having less than a quarter of their width intact.
"The sense of urgency is the condition of the piers," Graves said. "There is a point in the not-too-distant future where we will have to close the piers to foot traffic."
In the background of the whole discussion is Seattle's seemingly never-ending quandary about replacing the earthquake-rattled Alaskan Way Viaduct, just across the street from the waterfront.
Graves says it's really a separate discussion from the waterfront. Nothing the city staff envisions would knock down the sea wall. But Steinbrueck says with some extra state money, partial sea wall removal could be part of the deal.
Currently, Waterfront Park is partially swallowed by a complex of construction trailers and fences because of an ongoing renovation of the aquarium next door. But it has sat vastly underused for decades. Junkies have historically hung out there, alongside concrete columns and stairs that look vaguely like a modern Stonehenge.
It seemed like a good idea when it was built in the 1970s. But it just didn't work. Graves is convinced the city can do better.
"Let's do what we can, given that we're on a working waterfront," Graves said. "Let's do something great out here."
P-I reporter Robert McClure can be reached at 206-448-8092 or robertmcclure@seattlepi.com.
© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Times: Hormonal chemicals may be imperiling fishApril 1, 2007
Hormonal chemicals may be imperiling fish
By Warren Cornwall and Keith Ervin Seattle Times staff reporters
As they swim deep beneath Seattle's Elliott Bay, male English sole carry something in their bodies that's not supposed to be there: a protein usually found only in female fish with developing eggs.
These so-called "feminized" fish, first found in the late 1990s, are thought to be victims of human hormones and hormone-mimicking chemicals — flushed into the water from sewage-treatment plants, factories, storm-water drains and runoff from roads — that had made their reproductive systems go haywire.
Now a King County study has found that those chemicals, which come from sources as varied as birth-control pills and plastic bottles, detergent and makeup, are more widespread in the region's water than previously known.
The chemicals were found at very low levels, but some scientists worry that even in tiny amounts, they could mess with the sensitive reproductive systems of animals that already have plenty of challenges.
"We don't know very much about what these low-level exposures might do to the fish," said Lyndal Johnson, a biologist for the federal Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.
In many waters
Scientists for King County's Department of Natural Resources and Parks, which conducted the recent survey, said that a synthetic female hormone used in birth-control pills and hormone-replacement therapy has been found in streams and lakes, upstream from any sewage-treatment plants. That suggests that the prescription drugs are getting into the water from septic tanks or leaking sewer pipes.
The hormone, called ethynylestradiol or EE2, is one of many chemicals that can disrupt the endocrine system, which regulates animals' growth and development. The county scientists found EE2 in 22 percent of lake samples and 26 percent of stream samples. It was also found in every sample of storm water that flows into the Sammamish River in Redmond.
The county scientists also found endocrine-disrupting chemicals in storm water from Redmond and in runoff from the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge across Lake Washington.
"The things we detected were real low levels," said King County ecotoxicologist Deb Lester. "We did detect things, but they're ubiquitous compounds. It wasn't a surprise to detect them."
Happening elsewhere
The Seattle area isn't alone. In the Potomac River, male bass and sunfish have turned up with immature eggs in their testes. Scientists there have wondered whether similar chemicals also played a role in a string of fish kills.
In Nevada's Lake Mead, male carp that live near a pipe that spills treated Las Vegas wastewater had depressed levels of male sex hormone and smaller-than-normal testes. In California, "feminized" male fish have turned up in the Pacific Ocean off Los Angeles and Orange counties, with either the female protein or, in some cases, ovary tissue in their testes.
In Western Washington, there's concern the chemicals could hurt the reproductive success of fish, including salmon, which are already threatened by pollution, habitat loss and historic overfishing.
In Elliott Bay, the male sole that had the female protein were mostly concentrated in areas that get a lot of sewage outflow: offshore of Myrtle Edwards Park, off central downtown Seattle, and around the Duwamish River and Harbor Island.
Elevated levels have also turned up in Tacoma's Commencement Bay and in Puget Sound near Bremerton. Young chinook salmon in the Columbia River near Portland have been found with the same female enzyme as in the male English sole. That chemical usually appears only in mature female salmon getting ready to spawn.
The highest levels of the female protein in male sole were found at Harbor Island, near the mouth of the Duwamish River, and along Seattle's waterfront.
It's not just the males showing signs of sexual changes. Females in the most industrialized areas of Elliott Bay and the Duwamish tend to have eggs several months after their usual spawning seasons. And they tend to reach sexual maturity at a younger age, according to researchers at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Those changes are consistent with exposure to sex-related hormones.
While it's unknown whether the changes have hurt the fish in the wild, scientists are worried.
In one experiment in a lab on the Olympic Peninsula, rainbow trout exposed for two months to very low levels of EE2 had eggs with half the survival rate of their counterparts in hormone-free water.
"I think it just raises questions" about whether fish in the wild are being affected, said Irv Schultz, a scientist at the Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory who conducted the experiment.
Human danger?
The levels found in lakes and streams are too low to pose a health risk to swimmers, said Paul Foster, a deputy director of the Center for Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, part of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
But there is concern that endocrine disruptors in the environment could affect humans, especially developing fetuses that are undergoing critical changes choreographed by natural sex hormones, Foster said.
So the chemicals, which are often present at levels that couldn't be detected before recently developed lab techniques, have become the subject of intense research.
King County looked for endocrine-disrupting chemicals at more than 90 "sites of opportunity" stretching from Auburn to Bothell, where water has been tested regularly for other pollutants for years, said marine scientist Betsy Cooper.
The chemicals pose a particular challenge for sewage-treatment plants. Many of the plants aren't designed to remove them.
Scientists are testing whether the sewage-treatment technology that will be used at the Brightwater plant under construction in Snohomish County north of Woodinville can screen out endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals and other pollutants.
King County plans to sell treated water from Brightwater to a golf course and for irrigation in the Sammamish Valley. It won't be completely free of those chemicals.
Still, Lester, the county ecotoxicologist, said hormones aren't expected to pollute the groundwater or the Sammamish River because the recycled water's use will be limited. Also, some chemicals will break down into less-hazardous compounds. And others will bind with particles in the soil.
"It's highly unlikely that plants would be taking up Prozac," Lester said.
Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com
Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com Sidebar: The chemical lineup
The chemical lineup
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals, substances that act like human hormones, have been found in King County waters, and their fingerprints have been detected in English sole in Elliott Bay.
Here are some of the chemicals found in local waterways:
Bis (2-ethylhexyl) adipate: an ingredient in plastics, hydraulic fluid, bath oils, eye shadow and nail polish
Bisphenol A: used in some plastic food containers, as a liner in metal food containers, and in some dental sealants
Estradiol: an estrogen compound produced by women's ovaries
Ethynylestradiol, or EE2: synthetic estrogen used in birth-control pills and hormone-replacement therapy
4-nonylphenol: part of a class of chemicals used in detergents, pesticides and plastics
Sources: King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Olympic Peninsula Environmental News blog (Reprint of Press Release)March 27, 2007 http://www.albergstein.com/blog/?p=151
2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference this week. Vancouver Mar 27th, 2007 by 8string
OLYMPIA, WA – Is there a plan to improve Puget Sound? Is Washington seafood safe to eat? What are the implications of the Elwha River dam removal? These are some of the issues facing Washington State being addressed this week at the 2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference in Vancouver, B.C.
http://www.engr.washington.edu/epp/psgb/media.html
More than 900 natural and social scientists, government agencies, First Nations, tribal governments, resource managers, academic experts and others have gathered at the biannual event at the Westin Bayshore hotel to share the latest research findings and ongoing efforts to improve the condition of the Georgia Basin Puget Sound trans-boundary ecosystem. The conference is co-hosted by the Puget Sound Action Team and Environment Canada.
The 2007 conference covers a wide range of topics from seafood safety and human health, to governance of the trans-boundary ecosystem, to the path to a healthy Puget Sound. Other conference topics include clean energy sources; salmon stock status; impacts of human population growth on the ecosystem; climate change; landscape restoration; and environmental education.
This year’s conference builds on the success of two previous Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conferences as well as the significant trans-boundary work between British Columbia and Washington State. The conference is a forum for both scientists and policy-makers to recognize and celebrate progress and guide future direction.
For more on the conference, visit the web site here. KPLU Radio: Growing Toxic Threat to OrcasMarch 26, 2007 http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1058777
Growing Toxic Threat to Orcas Liam Moriarty Length: 52 seconds
PCBs were banned in the 1970s. Researchers believe the chemicals cause neurological and reproductive damage in the orcas. Doctor Peter Ross is with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Sydney B.C. His latest research shows the fire retardant chemical PBDE, which is still in use, could be adding to the problem.
“If we have another class of chemicals, the PBDEs, that are doubling every four years in our local environment and the PCBs are not declining very much anymore, then we’re going to see an additive effect between two different chemical classes.”
Lawmakers in Olympia are considering a ban on PBDE. Dr. Ross will be presenting his findings at a conference in Vancouver this week. Dozens of researchers will share the latest on the state of Puget Sound and B.C.’s Georgia Basin.
Liam Moriarty, KPLU News. Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (Link to Conference site)http://www.nwifc.org/enhance/HatcheryAquacultureConferences.asp
2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference: The event draws parties together to share scientific information concerning the condition and management of the shared Georgia Basin Puget Sound region. KCTS - Puget Sound Mattershttp://www.kcts.org/pugetsoundmatters/ *story on green roofs to come Seattle Conscious Choice: 30 things to do in March (Calendar Listing)http://seattle.consciouschoice.com/calendar/index.html?month=3&year=2007
30 things to do in March
03.26-03.29 8am-5pm 2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference Westin Bayshore Hotel 1601 Bayshore Drive Vancouver, BC V6G 2V4 Liv Faris www.researchconference.org lfaris at colehourcohen.com The conference will cover a variety of topics from seafood safety and human health to governance of the transboundary ecosystem to the path to a healthy Sound.
Daily NotesEdition 1 – Mondayhttp://theconferencepublishers.com/GB/GB_eng_6.pdf (English) http://theconferencepublishers.com/GB/GB_fr_6.pdf (French) Edition 2 – Tuesdayhttp://theconferencepublishers.com/GB/GB_eng_2_3.pdf (English) http://theconferencepublishers.com/GB/GB_fr_2_4.pdf (French) Edition 3 – Wednesdayhttp://theconferencepublishers.com/GB/GB_eng_3_7.pdf (English) http://theconferencepublishers.com/GB/GB_fr_3_3.pdf (French) Edition 4 – Thursdayhttp://theconferencepublishers.com/GB/GB_eng_4_7.pdf (English) http://theconferencepublishers.com/GB/GB_fr_4_4.pdf (French)
March 26, 2007
Sport fishermen issue call for a cull of harbour seals: Thriving Courtenay-area population seen as threat to spawning chinook By L. Pynn
VANCOUVER -- Sport fishermen are calling for a renewed cull of harbour seals near Courtenay just as research shows the species has increased 10-fold as a result of protection in local waters.
Legislation in Canada and the U.S. in the early 1970s making it illegal to kill marine mammals without a permit ended an era of culls and bounties and gave rise to today's thriving harbour seal population.
The population is now relatively stable at 52,000 harbour seals using 650 haul-out sites (beach locations where seals rest) in the Strait of Georgia and Washington state's Puget Sound, according to a research biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Nanaimo.
Peter Olesiuk will deliver a presentation to a Vancouver marine conference this week showing the harbour seal population in local waters has increased about 10-fold between the early-1970s and mid-1990s.
Gerry Scott, with the Comox local of the Sport Fish Advisory Board, said in an interview that fishermen are not calling for a widespread cull of harbour seals throughout the Strait of Georgia, but feel it is necessary on the Puntledge River to protect a summer run of spawning chinook that is down to a few thousand fish.
He said the seals show up at night under the bridge and use the city lights to gobble up young fish as they come downstream in spring.
"It's amazing, they literally turn upside down and start eating. We have to ensure the survival of those fish," he said.
Andrew Trites, director of marine mammal research at the Fisheries Centre at the University of B.C., said salmon runs decline for a variety of reasons, often directly the result of human actions, and he's seen no hard research to show the Puntledge River cull of a decade ago achieved anything.
Seals are easy scapegoats because they can be seen following salmon during spawning migrations in the fall, he said. People fail to realize seals might be of "net benefit" to salmon because they eat a greater number of hake throughout the year.
"Hake are one of the largest predators of salmon," he said. Harbour seals aren't the only ones that benefited from the marine mammal protection legislation. Steller sea lions have increased steadily in local waters, and are estimated at 500 to 1,500, Olesiuk reports.
Steller sea lions are of special concern in B.C., officially threatened in Alaska. California sea lions have extended their non-breeding range northward, with counts fluctuating at 1,000 to 2,500 since the 1980s.
Both species of sea lion were rare in local waters prior to the early 1970s. Northern elephant seals that breed off California and generally forage offshore are being observed in small numbers at Race Rocks near Metchosin. The species had almost been hunted to extinction.
The Fisheries Department culled a total of 52 harbour seals in 1997 and 1998 to benefit chinook salmon on the Puntledge River, and is now in discussion with local stakeholders, including sport fishermen and first nations, who are pushing for the controversial management tactic to be repeated.
Bruce Adkins, the department's area chief of oceans habitat enhancement for the south coast, said harbour seals position themselves beneath the bridge over the Courtenay River downstream of the Puntledge and eat juvenile salmon going downriver and adults returning to spawn.
He said returns were improved after the cull a decade ago, but noted the situation is clouded by the fact other rivers in the area that had no seal cull also had good production. He said more research is needed to better assess the potential benefits of another cull.
Trites noted that a seal cull designed to save salmon in Alaska backfired on the Copper River in the 1960s, when the population of starry flounders (a species of flatfish) on which the seals fed exploded. That in turn led to a collapse of the razor clam fishery, a favourite prey of the flounders.
Paul Adams, executive director of the B.C. Wildlife Federation, confirmed that harbour seal populations remain a controversial topic among anglers. The federation remains committed to a scientific-based management approach to all species, he said, and he urged both senior governments to devote more money to wildlife research.
He said he would consider support for control methods if evidence shows that an increase in numbers of one species such as the harbour seal had a detrimental impact on others.
Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said in a telephone interview that churning fish into feed for livestock, commercial cat food, and fish farms is a vastly bigger threat to fish stocks than seals. Olesiuk will present his findings at the 2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference today through Thursday in Vancouver.
March 20, 2007
Straights initiative targets bandoned fishing
gear: Waters scoured for abandoned and lost fishing gear destroying
marine life Fishing gear lost and abandoned to the ocean is killing massive numbers of marine creatures in the shared waters of Washington's Puget Sound and B.C.'s Strait of Georgia, marine experts report.
March 16, 2007
Authorities warned of shellfish parasites: A veterinarian says marine mammals have been found with disease-causing organisms By P. Lynn
Health authorities responsible for quality assurance in shellfish harvested in the shared waters of B.C. and Washington state should begin monitoring for giardia and cryptosporidium, a wildlife veterinarian said Thursday following new research confirming the presence of the parasites in marine mammals.
"We don't want to start a scare," Joe Gaydos said in an interview from his Orcas Island office in Washington. "But it is something our departments of health should check into. We're opening a Pandora's box."
Gaydos said both parasites, known for causing intestinal ailments, can survive in their infective stages in the ocean for one year and can concentrate in filter-feeding bivalve shellfish.
Studies of oysters in Chesapeake Bay on the U.S. east coast and oysters and mussels off California have found evidence of the parasites, he said. Levels tend to increase with heavy rains, suggesting the two parasites are being washed into the ocean from the surrounding land.
Gaydos' own research in Puget Sound has found evidence of giardia in four per cent of 78 gulls sampled, 19 per cent of 57 marine-foraging river otters, and 43 per cent of 99 harbour seals. Cryptosporidium cysts were detected in seven per cent of the river otters, but not detected in gulls or seals.
Gaydos said that if the two parasites can exist in marine mammals in local waters, it is only logical to think they could also be found in shellfish. "You don't know until you start looking," he said, noting consumers can reduce any risks by cooking oysters well.
Gaydos is regional director and staff scientist with the SeaDoc Society, an arm of the Wildlife Health Center at the University of California (Davis) School of Veterinary Medicine. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife also participated in his research in Puget Sound.
Since the parasites are passed on through feces, Gados recommends more research to determine whether sewage effluent is responsible for transmission to the marine environment.
No one is routinely testing oysters for the parasites either in Washington state or B.C. The Greater Vancouver Regional District treats drinking water from the Capilano, Seymour and Coquitlam watersheds to prevent transmission of both parasites.
David McCallum, research and development coordinator for the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association, said from Comox that Environment Canada, on behalf of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, routinely monitors water quality in oyster operations, looking mainly for evidence of paralytic shellfish poisoning and fecal coliforms.
While he's never heard anyone express concern about giardia and cryptosporidium in oysters, he said: "There is lots of monitoring done. We can assure people the oysters they eat from regulated farms in B.C. are 100-per-cent safe. There are a lot of things a hell of a lot worse for you than oysters."
The Vancouver Sun left repeated messages for CFIA officials, but no one called back. Gaydos will present details of his research at the 2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference March 26 to 29 in Vancouver.
A second presentation at the conference will focus on levels of cadmium, a naturally occurring metal, found in oysters in Washington state and B.C.
Hong Kong has banned oysters from both jurisdictions because levels exceed its standard of two parts per million.
Aimee Christy, a research biologist with the Pacific Shellfish Institute in Olympia, Wash., said that while cadmium levels are higher on the west coast than the east coast and vary from location to location, oysters are safe to eat.
The CFIA website states that while bivalve shellfish are an excellent source of protein and high in essential minerals, Health Canada recommends adults consume no more than 460 grams of B.C. oysters per month, reduced to 60 grams for children, due to concerns that cadmium could cause kidney damage. That's about 10 oysters a month for an adult, based on the average size of oyster found in Christy's study.
The website mentions the risks associated with paralytic shellfish poisoning and bacteria in shellfish, but makes no mention of giardia or cryptosporidium.
Roberta Stevenson, executive director of the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association, said she regrets Hong Kong has adopted unusually tough standards.
She added she is more concerned about the quality of oysters arriving in B.C. from developing countries. "We're a thousand times more regulated than anyone in the world. Product is safe coming out of our water."
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