Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Natural Resources and Conservation

Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 1111 - 1140 of 10267

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Three Big Themes (And A Thousand Band-Aids) We Need To Move Forward To Protect The Salish Sea, Ginny Broadhurst Apr 2022

Three Big Themes (And A Thousand Band-Aids) We Need To Move Forward To Protect The Salish Sea, Ginny Broadhurst

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The State of the Salish Sea report finds that unrelenting pressure from local urbanization and global climate change is having a negative impact on the Salish Sea. This, in addition to over 150 years of land use and development impacts and we have reached a tipping point. In spite of all of our efforts, our actions to protect and restore habitat and species are not keeping pace with the losses. In this presentation I will focus on suggestions for moving forward with three overarching themes to our work: Acknowledge and Manage the Salish Sea as a Multinational Ecosystem; Prevent Further …

Go to article

Multi-Jurisdictional Relationship-Building For Nature-Based Flood Management In Boundary Bay, Harley Chappell, Deborah Carlson, Matt Osler, Erin Clement, Eric Balke, Gillian Fuss Apr 2022

Multi-Jurisdictional Relationship-Building For Nature-Based Flood Management In Boundary Bay, Harley Chappell, Deborah Carlson, Matt Osler, Erin Clement, Eric Balke, Gillian Fuss

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Purpose This session will bring together representatives from governments, agencies and organizations (Indigenous, federal, provincial, local) who are collaborating to implement "living dike" pilot projects in Boundary Bay to address sea level rise and protect coastal ecosystems and communities. Presenters will describe innovations and challenges around nature-based flood management regarding planning, design and working together. Material overview Sea level rise and other climate change impacts are increasing coastal flood risks for communities located on the Fraser River delta. Communities are protected by dikes and other hard infrastructure, but these hard structures can contribute significantly to coastal squeeze. There is growing …

Go to article

Building With Nature: Blue-Green Systems For Solving Urban Growth And Climate Challenges In Canada, Eva Li Apr 2022

Building With Nature: Blue-Green Systems For Solving Urban Growth And Climate Challenges In Canada, Eva Li

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Urban development has significantly disrupted the City of Vancouver’s (the City) natural water cycle. Building on multi-year strategic planning, the City is undertaking a major shift in the way infrastructure services are planned, designed and delivered by developing interconnected blue-green systems (BGSs) networks. BGSs, park like networks and corridors, aim to manage water and improve water quality; promote connectivity, active transportation, and recreational; and increase access to nature and biodiversity. The “blue” in blue-green systems refers to integrated water management and green rainwater infrastructure (GRI) services. This function includes nature-based constructed practices like rain gardens, wetlands or other forms of …

Go to article

Prioritizing Sea Level Rise Exposure And Habitat Sensitivity Across Puget Sound, Avery Maverick Apr 2022

Prioritizing Sea Level Rise Exposure And Habitat Sensitivity Across Puget Sound, Avery Maverick

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Sea level rise (SLR) will cause Puget Sound shores to change in the magnitude and frequency of coastal flooding, with cascading effects of accelerated erosion, habitat loss, and other impacts at the local scale. Prior investigations of the extent of coastal flooding and historical patterns of erosion have been conducted across the region in a variety of temporal and spatial extents, but primarily at the shoreline reach scales. The recent release of updated sea level rise (SLR) projections and high resolution topobathymetric data for the Puget Sound region lends itself to a new quantitative analysis of SLR-related hazards at a …

Go to article

Recovering Yelloweye Rockfish And Bocaccio In The Salish Sea: A Collaborative, Long-Term, Multi-Pronged Approach, Dr. Dayv Lowry Apr 2022

Recovering Yelloweye Rockfish And Bocaccio In The Salish Sea: A Collaborative, Long-Term, Multi-Pronged Approach, Dr. Dayv Lowry

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Recovering yelloweye rockfish and bocaccio in the Salish Sea: a collaborative, long-term, multi-pronged approach Yelloweye rockfish and bocaccio occupying the Salish Sea have been listed under the U.S. Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) since 2010, yelloweye as Threatened and bocaccio as Endangered. In 2017, NOAA Fisheries completed a recovery plan for both species, outlining critical data needs and collaborative policy actions to further recovery. In 2020, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed the inside waters (i.e., Salish Sea) population of yelloweye as Threatened, a change from the Special Concern status conferred in 2008. Here, …

Go to article

Preliminary Assessment Of Whatcom And Skagit Shellfish Bed Exposure To Fecal Bacteria Using The Salish Sea Model, Catherine Gockel Apr 2022

Preliminary Assessment Of Whatcom And Skagit Shellfish Bed Exposure To Fecal Bacteria Using The Salish Sea Model, Catherine Gockel

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

High levels of fecal bacteria have impacted key commercial and tribal shellfish harvesting at shellfish beds located in Samish Bay, Portage Bay, and Drayton Harbors in the Skagit and Whatcom County regions of the Salish Sea. Despite extensive pollution prevention and source control efforts since the 1990s, the problem of shellfish bed exposure to fecal bacteria persists. Based on site-specific experience, practitioners identified the need to better understand the marine circulation of pathogens near shellfish beds. Specifically, how currents driven by tides and winds move freshwater from rivers, streams, and outfalls is not well understood at these locations. The hypothesis …

Go to article

Leveraging Community Science To Address Significant Data, Management, And Policy Gaps For Beach Spawning Forage Fish Across The Salish Sea, Virginia East, Jennifer Sutherst, Jacqueline Huard, Ian Bruce, Kyle Armstrong, Alanna Vivani, Graham Nicholas, Jacklyn Barrs Apr 2022

Leveraging Community Science To Address Significant Data, Management, And Policy Gaps For Beach Spawning Forage Fish Across The Salish Sea, Virginia East, Jennifer Sutherst, Jacqueline Huard, Ian Bruce, Kyle Armstrong, Alanna Vivani, Graham Nicholas, Jacklyn Barrs

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Community science is an important tool to address conservation challenges. WWF-Canada has facilitated the development of a ‘Forage Fish Monitoring Network’ within British Columbia’s Salish Sea. This network brings together community scientists, academics, professionals, and First Nation communities in mapping, monitoring, and identifying important spawning habitat for Pacific sand lance (PSL) and surf smelt (SS). PSL and SS are two ecologically important species that use intertidal (beach) habitat for spawning. These fish act as a trophic bridge between zooplankton and culturally and ecologically important predators, such as Marbled Murrelets, and Chinook salmon, which are the primary prey for northern and …

Go to article

Turning The Tide On Abandoned, Wrecked And Derelict Vessels In The Salish Sea, Michelle Young, Hilary Wilkinson, Troy Wood, Jeffrey Johnson, Jennifer Mcintyre Apr 2022

Turning The Tide On Abandoned, Wrecked And Derelict Vessels In The Salish Sea, Michelle Young, Hilary Wilkinson, Troy Wood, Jeffrey Johnson, Jennifer Mcintyre

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Abandoned, wrecked and derelict vessels in the Salish Sea pose environmental contamination and safety risks. They are also visual eyesores. Untended vessels end up adrift, washed ashore, sunk, or broken apart, releasing fuel and other toxins into the marine environment. The debris and contaminants put marine life and sensitive habitats at risk, endanger mariners and beachgoers, cause harm to shoreline infrastructure, use valuable community resources, and impact the rights and traditions of indigenous peoples. The challenges are also compounded by conflicting jurisdictions between various levels of government dependent on the location, type and impact of the vessel, as well as …

Go to article

Hood Canal Shellfish Initiative: A Collaborative Multi-Benefit Approach To Shellfish Aquaculture, Ecosystem Protection, And Cultural Opportunities, Haley Harguth Apr 2022

Hood Canal Shellfish Initiative: A Collaborative Multi-Benefit Approach To Shellfish Aquaculture, Ecosystem Protection, And Cultural Opportunities, Haley Harguth

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Hood Canal watershed in Washington State is characterized by its iconic shellfish, which are ecologically, culturally, and economically critical to local communities. The Hood Canal Coordinating Council (HCCC) led the development of the Hood Canal Shellfish Initiative (HCSI) to preserve this rich ancestral shellfish culture and to identify coordinated and mutually beneficial strategies and actions that support and expand Hood Canal’s thriving shellfish populations for current and future generations. The HCSI is built on a foundation of collaboration. A representative and inclusive workgroup of Hood Canal tribal and non-tribal shellfish interests developed the HCSI Action Plan using a transparent …

Go to article

Ten Years Of Success: Lessons Learned From The Hood Canal Regional Pollution Identification And Correction (Hcrpic) Program, Leslie Banigan Apr 2022

Ten Years Of Success: Lessons Learned From The Hood Canal Regional Pollution Identification And Correction (Hcrpic) Program, Leslie Banigan

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Hood Canal watershed is home to shellfish resources that have great cultural, economic, recreational, and subsistence value to local tribes and residents, in addition to a striking natural setting that provides a strong sense of place, recreational opportunities, and other human wellbeing benefits. Hood Canal is also served primarily by on-site sewage systems (OSS), many near water bodies, which can fail as they age and contribute bacterial pollution to local waters. A regional approach to Pollution Identification and Correction (PIC) and water quality programs has been essential for protecting public health, ancestral shellfish practices, and other socio-ecological benefits by …

Go to article

Understanding Oxygen Dynamics In Two Discovery Islands Fjords With Different Oxygen Characteristics (Oxic Vs. Hypoxic Subsurface Waters), Dr. Laura Bianucci, Mike Foreman, Jen Jackson, Wiley Evans, Alex Hare Apr 2022

Understanding Oxygen Dynamics In Two Discovery Islands Fjords With Different Oxygen Characteristics (Oxic Vs. Hypoxic Subsurface Waters), Dr. Laura Bianucci, Mike Foreman, Jen Jackson, Wiley Evans, Alex Hare

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In the northern end of the Salish Sea, the Discovery Islands region is a network of deep fjords and narrow channels between Vancouver Island and British Columbia’s mainland. The complex interaction of fresh water inputs, bathymetry, and marine and atmospheric forcing leads to rich marine ecosystems, which sustain wild salmon during their migration as well as orcas and other species. In 2019, summer observations in two nearby fjords, Bute Inlet and Toba Inlet, showed quite different oxygen characteristics. While Bute was fully oxygenated and had high oxygen concentrations in the upper waters, Toba experienced an oxygen minimum layer, with near-hypoxic …

Go to article

Rights Of The Salish Sea: A Major Paradigm Shift And An Innovative Legal Framework, Dr. Robin Reid, M. Kai Sanburn, Elisabeth Robson, Anne Whirledge-Karp, Chom S. Greacen, Julienne Battalia, Terry Marshall Apr 2022

Rights Of The Salish Sea: A Major Paradigm Shift And An Innovative Legal Framework, Dr. Robin Reid, M. Kai Sanburn, Elisabeth Robson, Anne Whirledge-Karp, Chom S. Greacen, Julienne Battalia, Terry Marshall

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Across the world, local to national governments are experimenting with recognizing the rights of the non-human environment. This is called the ‘rights of nature’. Euro-American law treats nature as property to be used and managed by humans. Rights of nature recognizes the rights of the environment to grow, thrive and be healthy, independent of humans. Indigenous Peoples often take the lead in these initiatives, as in the Maori-led rights of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s Whanganui River and Ojibwe-led rights of manoomin (wild rice). In the transboundary Salish Sea, there are growing efforts to implement this innovative rights framework. One such effort is …

Go to article

Shifting Population Patterns Of Lingcod In A 25 Year Study In A Marine Park, Kirby Johnson, Ken Collins Apr 2022

Shifting Population Patterns Of Lingcod In A 25 Year Study In A Marine Park, Kirby Johnson, Ken Collins

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Shifting Population Patterns of Lingcod in a 25 Year Study in a Marine Park The Edmonds Underwater Park has been a marine reserve since 1970. Beginning in 1996 and continuing for 25 years, there has been systematic observation of lingcod and an annual census of their nesting. The census over the years can be defined in three phases; an initial phase comprised of many volunteers developing and refining the protocol, a second phase of fewer observers using a mature process and the final phase with methodology refined for a small number of observers. The 25 years can also be generally …

Go to article

Spatial Distribution Of Tidal Currents And Quantification Of Transport Timescales In The Salish Sea – Data/Model Synthesis, Lakshitha Premathilake, Tarang Khangaonkar, Adi Nugraha, Sukyong Yun Apr 2022

Spatial Distribution Of Tidal Currents And Quantification Of Transport Timescales In The Salish Sea – Data/Model Synthesis, Lakshitha Premathilake, Tarang Khangaonkar, Adi Nugraha, Sukyong Yun

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The tidal currents and tide-induced transport in major basins and sub-basins were studied at a Salish Sea-wide scale using the newly developed high-resolution version of the Salish Sea Model. Potential increase in the ship traffic through the Salish Sea and associated oil spill risk and the community interest in currents hind-cast and forecast information with sufficient accuracy and spatial resolution for use in water quality and ecosystem led to this development. The model performance was evaluated using tides monitoring data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), monthly monitoring temperature and salinity data from 23 Ecology stations. A robust currents …

Go to article

Governor's Salmon Strategy Update: Securing A Future For People And Salmon In Washington, Erik Neatherlin Apr 2022

Governor's Salmon Strategy Update: Securing A Future For People And Salmon In Washington, Erik Neatherlin

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Salmon are in crisis and time is running out. We must act now to restore balance and save our salmon. In 2021, Governor Inslee updated Washington State's Salmon Strategy: Securing a Future for People and Salmon in Washington. The is the first time the state's salmon strategy "Extinction is Not an Option" has been updated since it was developed in 1999. This presentation will focus on priorities, themes, and actions from the strategy update, and will outline the state's legislative, policy, and budget priorities to put salmon and people on a path to recovery. (This abstract is a placeholder and …

Go to article

Bridging The Boundary: Innovative Cross-Scale Collaborations, Laura Rivas, Erin Ryan-Penuela, Kara Cardinal Apr 2022

Bridging The Boundary: Innovative Cross-Scale Collaborations, Laura Rivas, Erin Ryan-Penuela, Kara Cardinal

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Puget Sound is a dynamic environment with diverse ecosystems, a booming and diverse population, wide varying topographies, and distributed and diverse governments and tribal nations. With limited resources for ecosystem recovery and an ever-growing list of needs, prioritizing and allocating resources to environmental recovery and protection is challenging. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “one of the key challenges for all National Estuary Programs (NEPs) is to invigorate local support by addressing local problems, but doing so in a coordinated manner that enhances mutual benefits and makes progress on regional problems…”. As a National Estuary Program, Puget Sound is …

Go to article

Green Rainwater Infrastructure In The Real World: City Of Vancouver Performance Results, Sylvie Spraakman, Cassandra Humes Apr 2022

Green Rainwater Infrastructure In The Real World: City Of Vancouver Performance Results, Sylvie Spraakman, Cassandra Humes

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The City of Vancouver is leading the way in constructing Green Rainwater Infrastructure (GRI) in Vancouver as a means of transforming how we view rainwater. GRI uses a suite of technologies such as bioswales, rainwater tree trenches and infiltration trenches that help mimic the natural hydrological cycle by capturing and treating rainfall runoff close it where it lands and diverting large amounts of water from the sewer system. The primary objective of GRI systems is to retain rainwater runoff from hard surfaces, and return that water to groundwater recharge or evapotranspiration instead. The Rain City Strategy has set an ambitious …

Go to article

Building Habitat And Climate Resiliency: The Science Behind The Chehalis Basin Asrp, Emelie Mckain Apr 2022

Building Habitat And Climate Resiliency: The Science Behind The Chehalis Basin Asrp, Emelie Mckain

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Chehalis Basin Aquatic Species Restoration Plan, an integral part of the Chehalis Basin Strategy, aims to fund habitat restoration and protection at the scale and pace necessary to promote basin wide ecosystem resiliency to climate change impacts. A key component of the ASRP is transparent priorities for the program to focus funding on projects that will have the greatest positive impact. To develop these priorities, a collaborative team of scientists and policy leaders have teamed up to incorporate cutting edge climate science in habitat modeling and analyses, leading to a roadmap of proposed actions to curtail the effects of …

Go to article

Identifying Rockfish Hot Spot Areas In Puget Sound Through A Spatial Analysis Of Grey Data, Jamey Selleck Apr 2022

Identifying Rockfish Hot Spot Areas In Puget Sound Through A Spatial Analysis Of Grey Data, Jamey Selleck

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Ongoing research continues to inform the conservation efforts and decision making processes related to rockfish recovery in the Salish Sea, and there is continued need in summarizing and quantifying historical information related to rockfish habitat and their areas of occurrence. The relative scarcity of existing empirical data on rockfish in Puget Sound makes every form of available data more valuable. Studies utilizing reviews of grey literature and interviews with local experts and resource users have highlighted the value of local ecological knowledge (LEK) and its use in conservation management. We spatially analyzed rockfish data compiled from historical fishing guide books …

Go to article

Incentivizing Green Infrastructure Equitably, Aaron Clark Apr 2022

Incentivizing Green Infrastructure Equitably, Aaron Clark

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Incentive-based ecological programs have a checkered history. By providing incentives for voluntary environmental improvement, landowners and communities have the power to choose what changes they want (rather than having changes imposed on them), improvements can occur despite no regulatory requirements, and those changes tend to be enduring because landowner and community buy in leads to better stewardship. However, most incentive programs allocate resources inequitably, funneling public money to improvements in higher income, wealthy and predominantly white communities. But this need not be the case. In 2012 our partners at ECOSS asked community members from several underserved racial and cultural groups …

Go to article

Results From Seven Years Of Partnership Driven Young-Of-The-Year Rockfish Surveys In The South Salish Sea, Adam Obaza Apr 2022

Results From Seven Years Of Partnership Driven Young-Of-The-Year Rockfish Surveys In The South Salish Sea, Adam Obaza

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Knowledge of rockfish recruitment dynamics and habitat utilization by recently settled rockfishes is valuable for developing appropriate fishery management and recovery actions. Until 2015, no survey effort sought the spatial and temporal data necessary to fill these gaps in the southern Salish Sea. To address this need, NMFS collaborated with state and federal agencies, non-profit groups, and academic institutions to develop a citizen science SCUBA survey program directed at young-of-the-year (YOY) rockfishes. In this program, volunteer and professional divers perform timed roving surveys in discrete habitat types, recording data on rockfish abundance in four morphological classes, as well as qualitative …

Go to article

Qualitative Network Models Facilitate Multi-Benefit Comparison Of Management Interventions For The Puget Sound Social-Ecological System, Dr. Caitlin Magel Apr 2022

Qualitative Network Models Facilitate Multi-Benefit Comparison Of Management Interventions For The Puget Sound Social-Ecological System, Dr. Caitlin Magel

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Management of coastal systems should be guided by social, cultural, economic, and ecological objectives, but integrative decision support tools appropriate for complex coastal systems remain underutilized. We employed one such tool – qualitative network modeling (QNM) – to evaluate the multi-benefit outcomes of proposed recovery actions for Puget Sound, Washington, USA. The basis for our analysis was a conceptual model developed with regional scientists and stakeholders that describes how human stressors and ecosystem components are connected (via positive and negative links) to recovery objectives across the terrestrial-freshwater-estuarine gradient of a generalized Puget Sound watershed. Through a combination of alternative network …

Go to article

An Analysis Of Environmental Factors Influencing Spatial Clustering Of Salish Sea Clam Species, James Mcardle Apr 2022

An Analysis Of Environmental Factors Influencing Spatial Clustering Of Salish Sea Clam Species, James Mcardle

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Mapping bivalve biomass through the use of GIS can be a valuable tool for managers of commercially and recreationally-important clam species. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community has been conducting intertidal clam surveys on reservation beaches since the early 2000s with the goal of managing their bivalve fisheries sustainably. These data, however, can also be used to investigate how environmental factors may influence spatial clustering of target species. We mapped biomass data of Leukoma staminea, Saxidomus gigantea, Clinocardium nuttallii, and Tresus sp. on a culturally-valuable beach located on the reservation. Statistically significant clusters of biomass polygons were identified using a Getis-Ord …

Go to article

Surveillance For Antibiotic-Resistant E. Coli In The Salish Sea Ecosystem, Alexandria Vingino Apr 2022

Surveillance For Antibiotic-Resistant E. Coli In The Salish Sea Ecosystem, Alexandria Vingino

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The anthropogenic use of antibiotics in clinical, agricultural, and community settings has contributed to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria throughout the world. We characterized antibiotic-resistant E. coli in water and wildlife samples from throughout the Puget Sound, WA, USA. E. coli were isolated from marine water samples obtained in four quadrants of Puget Sound and select locations near beaches, freshwater samples from streams near marine beaches, and fecal samples from harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), river otters (Lontra canadensis), and English sole (Parophrys vetulus). A total of 305 E. coli isolates were assessed for phenotypic and genotypic …

Go to article

2021-2022 Preventing Non-Point Source Pollution: On-Site Sewage Program During The Time Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Corrina Marote Apr 2022

2021-2022 Preventing Non-Point Source Pollution: On-Site Sewage Program During The Time Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Corrina Marote

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

2021-2022 Preventing Non-Point Source Pollution: On-site Sewage Program During the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic 2021-2022 Preventing Non-Point Source Pollution: On-site Sewage Program During the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic Skagit County Public Health has required permits for on-site sewage systems (OSS) since 1958 and established an operations and maintenance (O&M) program in 2000. The O&M program goal was to identify sources of non-point pollution from OSS that closed a commercial shellfish harvest area the northern Puget Sound. Efforts in this area allowed the bay to reopen. With 4 dedicated employees, the OSS program was robust until March 2020 when …

Go to article

Forecasting Central Salish Sea Dungeness Crab Populations: A Study In Patience, Sarah Grossman Apr 2022

Forecasting Central Salish Sea Dungeness Crab Populations: A Study In Patience, Sarah Grossman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister) are an important species in the Salish Sea because they not only supply a lucrative commercial fishery, but they also fill a critical ecological role in marine food webs. Although we have a relatively good understanding of M. magister larval dynamics and the relationships between larval supply and subsequent fisheries landing on the outer coast, fundamental gaps still exist with regard to our knowledge of their early life stages within the Salish Sea. Most notably, how physical drivers influence the annual patterns in larval supply and in turn how larval supply contributes to subsequent fisheries landings. …

Go to article

Managing Floodplains Collaboratively: Cross-Border Learning On Fish, Farms, And Floods, Lina Azeez, Dan Straker, Gillian Fuss, Kari Quaas, Beth Ledoux, David Roberts, Lindsey Desmul Apr 2022

Managing Floodplains Collaboratively: Cross-Border Learning On Fish, Farms, And Floods, Lina Azeez, Dan Straker, Gillian Fuss, Kari Quaas, Beth Ledoux, David Roberts, Lindsey Desmul

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Taking a more collaborative and integrated approach to floodplain management has made a big splash in Washington State in recent years. As governments plan for an uncertain future and climate adaptation moves to the forefront, cities and communities situated in floodplains are having to consider the looming threat of flooding from unpredictable water flows. Balancing the needs of ecosystems, agriculture and flood risk. The communities of large floodplains like the lower mainland along the Fraser River in British Columbia, the Snohomish/Skykomish Rivers in Snohomish County and the Snoqualmie River in King County of Washington State are taking steps to manage …

Go to article

Prioritizing Contaminants Of Concern In The Fraser River Watershed: A Risk-Based Evaluation For Outmigrating Juveniles And Returning Adult Salmon, Dr. Tanya Brown Apr 2022

Prioritizing Contaminants Of Concern In The Fraser River Watershed: A Risk-Based Evaluation For Outmigrating Juveniles And Returning Adult Salmon, Dr. Tanya Brown

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Fraser River watershed is home to 54 unique spawning populations of salmon, including 19 Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) populations. Fraser Chinook provide 80-90% of the food source consumed by Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW, Orcinus orca) in the spring and summer. Over 90% (15/16) Fraser Chinook populations are at risk. Extensive forestry, agricultural, industrial and urban activities take place in the Fraser Valley that expose early life stages of emigrating salmon and returning adult salmon to a mix of legacy and emerging contaminants. Many of which, can elicit adverse health effects in vertebrates, including endocrine disruption and reproductive effects. However, …

Go to article

Working Together On A Coastal Marine Strategy For British Columbia., David Angus, Taylor Mason Apr 2022

Working Together On A Coastal Marine Strategy For British Columbia., David Angus, Taylor Mason

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

On the coast of British Columbia (BC), the effects of climate change, pollution, seafood production, coastal development, and transportation on our environment and related values are increasing. In addition, historical inequities in terms of access to ocean resources, the distribution of power and benefits, and exposure to harms persist and in some cases are exacerbated by business-as-usual approaches to marine management. Ensuring sustainable and equitable development of our marine economy in BC is possible with better, more complete ocean governance and strategies that reflect current and future values and pressures. As one of only a few maritime jurisdictions in North …

Go to article

Assessing The Viability Of Mapping Bull Kelp In Puget Sound Using Aerial Imaging Platforms, Tyler Cowdrey Apr 2022

Assessing The Viability Of Mapping Bull Kelp In Puget Sound Using Aerial Imaging Platforms, Tyler Cowdrey

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) is an important primary producer that plays a foundational role in the marine nearshore ecosystems of Puget Sound. Evidence of significant declines in bull kelp forests in this region has motivated efforts to establish region-wide long-term monitoring programs for this critical species. As part of this drive, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has been testing a series of aerial imaging platforms to detect and map the distribution of bull kelp to complement existing monitoring protocols. In 2020, DNR began surveying floating bull kelp canopies in Puget Sound using RGB and multispectral Unmanned Aerial …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last