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Articles 31861 - 31890 of 302646

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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. …

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Preparing For Sea Level Rise In King County: The Sea Level Rise Risk Area, Lara Whitely Binder Apr 2022

Preparing For Sea Level Rise In King County: The Sea Level Rise Risk Area, Lara Whitely Binder

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

How do we get ahead of what’s coming? is a common question and motivator for action on sea level rise. In 2020, King County answered this question with adoption of a Sea Level Rise Risk Area for Vashon and Maury Island. The new risk area, adopted into County flood codes as part of the County's Comprehensive Plan mid-point update, extends base flood elevation construction requirements and other provisions into a new zone that sits landward of the existing coastal high hazard zone. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the new risk area and its associated requirements, discuss the …

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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 …

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Community Monitoring And Stewardship In Urban Watersheds, Anna Bachmann, Hannah Park, Sharlene Pioquinto, Eric Adman, Ry Yahn, Michelle Carranza Valasco, Kirsten Mcdade, Gary Olson Apr 2022

Community Monitoring And Stewardship In Urban Watersheds, Anna Bachmann, Hannah Park, Sharlene Pioquinto, Eric Adman, Ry Yahn, Michelle Carranza Valasco, Kirsten Mcdade, Gary Olson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Throughout the Salish Sea there are watersheds that have historically supported large runs of salmon and provided clean water to Puget Sound but as some areas have become urbanized, their waterways have suffered from stormwater run-off, industrial pollution, and degraded ecosystems. Some are rivers and streams that flow through communities most impacted by pollution and environmental injustice concerns. In some parts of the Salish Sea, community-based stewardship groups are leading efforts at urban stream renewal, restoration, and monitoring. This session will highlight several groups working to protect waterways in Puget Sound and discuss the challenges, benefits, and impact of taking …

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A Moral Debt: History, Science, And Our Obligation To Southern Resident Killer Whales, Dr. Jason Colby Apr 2022

A Moral Debt: History, Science, And Our Obligation To Southern Resident Killer Whales, Dr. Jason Colby

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A Moral Debt: History, Science, and Our Obligation to Southern Resident Killer Whales Today, there is no more prominent symbol of the transnational Pacific Northwest, and particularly the Salish Sea, than orcas. Scientists, policymakers, and journalists regularly comment on the plight of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales in particular. Yet few explore the transformative role this population has played in regional (and global) environmental values, as well as their broader impact on the scientific study of whales. Southern Residents are the most influential cetacean population in human history, but they have paid a steep price for our change and …

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Assessing Sources Of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (Pbde) Flame Retardants Impacting Juvenile Chinook Salmon In The Snohomish River Watershed, Alex Gipe Apr 2022

Assessing Sources Of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (Pbde) Flame Retardants Impacting Juvenile Chinook Salmon In The Snohomish River Watershed, Alex Gipe

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A 2016 study by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) found wild juvenile Chinook salmon in the Snohomish River had tissue concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants high enough to produce sublethal effects. Juvenile Chinook salmon accumulate toxicants from streams in urban and developing environments that receive stormwater and wastewater discharges. In 2019, the Washington Department of Ecology, in partnership with WDFW, conducted a source assessment to determine sources of PBDEs in the Snohomish River watershed. Passive water samplers (semi-permeable membrane devices) were deployed throughout the Snohomish, Skykomish, and Snoqualmie Rivers during high and low flow …

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The Time For Reparations From Washington State Is Now! As Non-Human Persons, Orcas Deserve Justice, Dr. Alexandrea Safiq Apr 2022

The Time For Reparations From Washington State Is Now! As Non-Human Persons, Orcas Deserve Justice, Dr. Alexandrea Safiq

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Conservation biology: a multi-disciplinary science aimed at understanding biodiversity loss with an orientation towards facilitating the protection of species, communities, and ecosystems. Unlike other scientific disciplines, conservation biologists fall into a unique category of socio-ecological influencers (i.e., environmentalists) because the protection of biodiversity, within the context of the Anthropocene, means protecting species from the historically unsustainable exploitation of nature by humans. A shift from domination of nature to an ecosophy based on mutualism has begun. As a result, nature is becoming more frequently viewed as possessing non-human personhood. Given this paradigm shift in western culture to acknowledge what indigenous cultures …

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Tourist Preferences For Southern Resident Killer Whale Whale Watching And Rule Changes In The Salish Sea, Abby Schamp Apr 2022

Tourist Preferences For Southern Resident Killer Whale Whale Watching And Rule Changes In The Salish Sea, Abby Schamp

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Wildlife tours often view protected species that are subject to additional conservation measures, such as Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) in the Salish Sea, Washington. Discrete Choice Experiment willingness-to-pay estimates for whale watching tour attributes that view SRKW were obtained from a survey of 1,442 potential whale watchers. Tourist responses to conservation measures and regulations were assessed by estimating demand after tour attribute changes and respondent exposure to information about new rules. Whale watchers did not report a reduced likelihood of going whale watching after learning about new rules, though they did have increased concern about the impact of whale …

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Juvenile Chinook Salmon Accumulate Harmful Levels Of Toxic Contaminants While Undergoing Their Seaward Migration, Andrea Carey Apr 2022

Juvenile Chinook Salmon Accumulate Harmful Levels Of Toxic Contaminants While Undergoing Their Seaward Migration, Andrea Carey

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Puget Sound Chinook salmon are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and habitat degradation and loss, overfishing, climate change and contaminant exposure are factors contributing to their decline. Juvenile Chinook salmon rear and feed for extended periods in estuary and nearshore habitats, potentially exposing them to contaminants that accumulate disproportionately there. Exposure to toxic contaminants can lead to reduced growth, a weakened immune response, reproductive impairment, and may ultimately reduce their survival. To assess the status of contaminant exposure in estuarine habitats used by seaward migrating juvenile Chinook salmon, fish were collected from the estuary habitat of …

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Spatial-Temporal Changes In Kelp Extent In The Gulf Islands And Southern Vancouver Island: A Remote Sensing Approach, Alejandra Mora-Soto Apr 2022

Spatial-Temporal Changes In Kelp Extent In The Gulf Islands And Southern Vancouver Island: A Remote Sensing Approach, Alejandra Mora-Soto

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Local studies across the Salish Sea show variable patterns of kelp change, ranging from total losses to resilient populations as a result of processes that operate on different scales. Here, we present a high-resolution satellite imagery approach to defining changes in kelp extent from 2005 to 2019 for the Gulf Islands and Southern Vancouver Island. We further related these changes to sea surface temperature (SST) from the Landsat thermal sensor and the number of weeks under high SST from lighthouse data. The analysis showed that (i) semi-exposed kelp areas such as Race Rocks, were characterized by strong tidal currents, high …

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Oceanreports Tool Brings Ocean And Coastal Planning Data To Your Fingertips, Thomas Moore Apr 2022

Oceanreports Tool Brings Ocean And Coastal Planning Data To Your Fingertips, Thomas Moore

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

OceanReports is the most comprehensive web-based spatial assessment tool for the ocean and coasts in the U.S., designed to improve decision-making and increase transparency for users. It was developed by a partnership of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), and the NOAA Office for Coastal Management (OCM). The tool contains approximately 100 distinct data layers and is capable of analyzing energy and minerals, natural resources (including species and habitats), transportation and infrastructure, oceanographic and biophysical conditions, and the local ocean economy for any area of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. …

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Strategies For Identifying And Mitigating Predation On Salmon In Washington’S “Estuaries Of Concern”, Dr. Casey Clark Apr 2022

Strategies For Identifying And Mitigating Predation On Salmon In Washington’S “Estuaries Of Concern”, Dr. Casey Clark

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Reduced salmon run sizes, fishery closures, and rebounding predator populations have made predation on salmonids by seals, sea lions, and birds a focal point for discussions of salmon conservation and management in the Salish Sea. Predation on threatened and endangered Chinook salmon has been of particular concern and was highlighted by the Southern Resident Orca Task Force as an important subject for further research. Rivers and estuaries are a good place to focus this work, due to elevated predation that can occur at biological pinch points in these systems (e.g., Bonneville Dam, Ballard Locks) and the opportunity to target management …

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Meeting At The Crossroads: Environmental Justice And Large Carnivore Conservation, Alex Mcinturff Apr 2022

Meeting At The Crossroads: Environmental Justice And Large Carnivore Conservation, Alex Mcinturff

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

As global environmental changes continue to accelerate, research and practice in the field of conservation biology may be essential to help forestall precipitous declines in the earth’s ability to sustain a diversity of life. However, many conservation programs have faced scrutiny for the social injustices they create, especially within the paradigm of demarcating protected areas. Currently, a new conservation paradigm emphasizing human-wildlife coexistence is emerging, and with it, an opportunity to ensure that justice for both human and beyond-human groups is given consideration. Recovery programs for large carnivore species, like orcas, are a practice emblematic of this new conservation paradigm, …

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Leaders And Laggards: Dumping From Vessels In The Salish Sea, Why It's Concerning, And Who Is Leading And Lagging In Preventing It., Anna Barford, Evan Dobrowski, Elise Georgeff, Verner Wilson Apr 2022

Leaders And Laggards: Dumping From Vessels In The Salish Sea, Why It's Concerning, And Who Is Leading And Lagging In Preventing It., Anna Barford, Evan Dobrowski, Elise Georgeff, Verner Wilson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Shipping and Large Vessel Traffic doesn’t just pose a risk to ecosystems when something catastrophic happens, but normal operations are creating pollution that is harmful to marine life, including Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW). While some jurisdictions in the Salish Sea are tackling this head on, working in collaboration with industry, and prioritising pollution prevention, others are allowing themselves to become a relative dumping ground. In this panel a group of experts including researchers, campaigners, and government officials will discuss and share some of the most concerning aspects of 3 voluminous waste streams, as well as examples of jurisdictions leading …

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Roadway Runoff Exposure Disrupts The Blood-Brain Barrier In Juvenile Coho Salmon, Stephanie Blair, Clyde Barlow, Jenifer Mcintyre Apr 2022

Roadway Runoff Exposure Disrupts The Blood-Brain Barrier In Juvenile Coho Salmon, Stephanie Blair, Clyde Barlow, Jenifer Mcintyre

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) are highly sensitive to urban runoff exposure and are an important ecological indicator for emerging contaminants. Recurrent die-offs of adult prespawn coho salmon in urban streams are attributed to the newly discovered tire chemical 6PPD-quinone. Juvenile coho salmon lethally exposed to roadway runoff and 6PPD-quinone demonstrate a similar progression of behavioral symptoms. In previous studies, we demonstrated that juvenile coho exposed to roadway runoff show blood-brain barrier disruption concurrent with severe rises in hematocrit. This suggests that cause of death may be due to loss of neuronal function following increased permeability of cerebral vessels and plasma …

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Lessons Learned From Intensively Monitored Watersheds (Imws) Of The Pacific Northwest: Management Applications, Considerations, And Adaptive Management, Keith Dublanica, Robert Bilby Apr 2022

Lessons Learned From Intensively Monitored Watersheds (Imws) Of The Pacific Northwest: Management Applications, Considerations, And Adaptive Management, Keith Dublanica, Robert Bilby

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB), the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC), and the Pacific Northwest Monitoring Partnership (PNAMP) have collaborated on an overall assessment of twelve of the sixteen intensively monitored watersheds (IMWs) in the Pacific Northwest. These areas, located in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California were specifically chosen for watershed restoration treatments following a limiting factors analysis affecting varied salmonid life histories. All are utilizing validation monitoring in order to test the specific hypothesis crafted for each, while addressing salmonid productivity following treatment implementation. Five of these IMWs are located in the Columbia River basin. …

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Trends And Status Of Harbor Seals In Washington State (1978-2019) With Management Applications, Dr. Scott Pearson Apr 2022

Trends And Status Of Harbor Seals In Washington State (1978-2019) With Management Applications, Dr. Scott Pearson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) numbers were severely reduced in Washington by a federally-financed control program in the first half of the twentieth century. Seal numbers rebounded after the cessation of bounties and the establishment of legal protections under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA). As seal and sea lion populations recover, updated stock estimates are critical for determining their status under the MMPA, assessing management options under the Act, and for modelling exercises designed to evaluate the role of pinnipeds in marine ecosystems. To estimate population size and abundance trends in Washington State, we conducted aerial surveys …

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Harbor Seal Consumption Of Steelhead Upon Marine Entry, Megan Moore Apr 2022

Harbor Seal Consumption Of Steelhead Upon Marine Entry, Megan Moore

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Predation by harbor seals may be threatening the recovery of ESA-listed steelhead. After freshwater rearing, steelhead smolts experience high mortality during their rapid migration from river mouth to the Pacific Ocean. Previous work indicates that harbor seal predation is a primary source of early marine mortality in the Salish Sea, but the level of impact exerted by harbor seals on steelhead has not been quantitatively assessed. We calculated the percentage of Nisqually River steelhead migrants consumed by harbor seals in 2016, 2017, and 2018 from estimates of (1) the proportion of harbor seal diet comprised of steelhead, (2) the number …

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