24
APR
2016
APR
2016
0
April 12, 2016
International researchers urge including the social sciences in ecosystem management, highlighting indicators of human well-being developed by Washington Sea Grant and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center.
For too long, sustainability goals and environmental management have failed to consider the human side of conservation—how decisions affect people’s lives, and how human culture, values, and equity affect conservation outcomes. Social science can contribute significantly to advancing and assessing conservation efforts. These are the conclusions of a paper published April 1 in ...
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1
APR
2016
APR
2016
March 29, 2016
Pumpout boats, public education, and collaboration with marinas divert 8 million gallons of onboard sewage to onshore treatment in 2015.
In 2014, Pumpout Washington, a joint project of Washington Sea Grant and Washington State Parks, helped divert a record 6 million gallons of raw sewage from Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and other state waterways. Now the 2015 numbers are in and they blow 2014’s record away. More than 8.3 million gallons that would previously have been dumped into vulnerable ...
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29
MAR
2016
MAR
2016
The field of citizen science has grown explosively over the last decade, benefitting from excellent PR, Presidential shout-outs, advances in big data, and, not least, a Web 2.0 world replete with hashtags, networks, and crowdsourcing. It turns out people love doing science in their spare time! The historians remind us that, actually, what we call citizen science is not a recent invention (e.g. Audubon Christmas bird counts date back to 1900), but the current ...
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13
MAR
2016
MAR
2016
March 7, 2016
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management announced today that Washington Sea Grant will be awarded $879,255 for a three-year project to assist coastal communities in Washington State facing significant risk from the impacts of sea level rise, storm surge and shoreline erosion.
With 3,067 miles of coastline and more than 45 coastal cities, Washington needs to prepare people, infrastructure, and fish and wildlife habitat for these hazards, which is anticipated to worsen over time.
Washington Sea ...
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9
MAR
2016
MAR
2016
March 1, 2016
When Paul Dye focuses on marine conservation, change happens. Dye now brings that focus to Washington Sea Grant, where he recently began serving as the new assistant director for outreach for the marine research, education and outreach organization.
Dye’s previous work in Washington has conserved fish and shellfish habitat, supported fisheries innovations to create sustainability, helped coastal communities adapt to climate change, and reduced the risk of oil spills.
Dye has 30 years experience in the conservation field, spanning protection ...
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9
MAR
2016
MAR
2016
February 22, 2016
Washington Sea Grant Social Scientist Melissa Poe recently spent a week on Haida Gwaii interviewing Native knowledge holders. She is collaborating with the Ocean Tipping Points project and local partners Gwaii Haanas Parks Canada and the Council of the Haida Nation, in a social-ecological study to assess the cultural importance of Pacific Herring in Haida Gwaii.
Together with Haida Gwaii collaborators, Melissa conducted ethnographic interviews with knowledge holders about traditional practices and livelihood uses of herring. Results are expected to ...
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9
MAR
2016
MAR
2016
The dryland underdogs in this year’s high school ocean-sciences tournament beat the odds with upbeat attitude.
“We live in a world of water,” Dean Lisa Graumlich proclaimed, welcoming high school students, teachers, families and fans, together with UW scientists and other volunteers, to the 19th annual Washington Regional Ocean Sciences Bowl. That world embraces even the dry side of the Cascade Divide. Four of the 20 teams competing came from Eastern or Central Washington: two from Ellensburg, one from White Swan ...
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8
MAR
2016
MAR
2016
2015 was a pilot year for Crab Team monitoring. This is the second of two post in which, Natalie White, an undergraduate in the UW Program on the Environment Capstone Program, shares her work to understand the volunteer experience during our pilot year. In a third post, we’ll fill you in on how we’ve responded to this information, and what we learned by listening.
In the previous post, I told you a little bit about my project ...
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17
FEB
2016
FEB
2016
2015 was a pilot year for Crab Team monitoring. Here, in a series of two posts, Natalie White, an undergraduate in the UW Program on the Environment Capstone Program, will share the work she did to understand the volunteer experience during our pilot year. In a third post, we’ll fill you in on how we’ve responded to this information, and what we learned by listening.
With the official 2016 program launch upon us, now is a great time to ...
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10
FEB
2016
FEB
2016
January 22, 2016
The Seattle Aquarium recently recognized UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences research scientist Jeffrey Cordell for his innovative work on restoring marine habitat along Seattle’s Elliott Bay seawall at their annual Chairman’s Award dinner.
Jeff led the long-term research, funded by Washington Sea Grant and the City of Seattle to design, install, and monitor large-scale test panels at three locations along the Seattle waterfront as part of the Elliott Bay Seawall Project. Jeff and his team tested the ...
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22
JAN
2016
JAN
2016
January 20, 2016
Governor Jay Inslee announced the second phase of the Washington Shellfish Initiative, a partnership of local, state, and federal partners from government, business, tribes, and nonprofit groups. The Initiative’s efforts to tackle pollution in Puget Sound and coastal waters have successfully led to the reopening of shellfish beds and, through a new shellfish restoration hatchery, native shellfish restoration efforts are growing. Washington’s $184 million shellfish industry supports approximately 2,700 jobs.
Leaders from the partnership convened at the National Fish & ...
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20
JAN
2016
JAN
2016
One strength of the Crab Team protocol is that it enables us to confidently compare findings among different sites, and track changes over time – even if different people are doing the sampling. With sampling on this scale, even the small steps can be important to what we learn from the data. The Protocol in Focus will allow us to expand on these details, and offer an opportunity to see all the behind-the-scenes planning that goes into methodology!
Almost every volunteer has had the question: When we measure crab size, ...
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15
JAN
2016
JAN
2016