September 22, 2017
Members of the 2017 class of Marc Hershman Marine Policy, Knauss Marine Policy and the Sea Grant – National Marine Fisheries Service fellowships programs met today for an orientation, followed by lunch and a tour of Seattle’s Fishermen’s Terminal.
This year’s class of fellows include:
August 17, 2017
Washington Sea Grant expands its clean marina and small oil spill prevention programs on Lake Chelan
Head down to Lake Chelan on a hot summer day, and its vast surface will be speckled with jet skis and motor boats. The locals all know there’s no better way to beat the heat in eastern Washington than to get in some quality time out on Chelan’s transparent, aquamarine water. What’s less commonly known, however, is that these very activities can ...
Read MoreAugust 9, 2017
Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants will mean less pollution in Washington State Waters.
Boater sewage is a source of pollution into Washington State waters that can contaminate shellfish beds or spread waterborne diseases at popular swimming beaches. To keep this pollution at bay, Washington State Parks Department’s Clean Vessel Act (CVA) program works with the University of Washington’s Washington Sea Grant to help boaters and marinas safely dispose of vessel waste. Two recently awarded grants ...
Read MoreApril, 2017
A new population of invasive European green crab has been found at Dungeness Spit, near Sequim, Washington, rekindling concern over the potential for damage to local marine life and shorelines.
Staff and volunteers from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which manages Dungeness Spit National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), captured a total of 13 European green crab over the past two weeks as part of Washington Sea Grant’s (WSG) Crab Team early detection program. These numbers indicate that the invasive crabs are ...
Read MoreMarch, 2017
In March 2017, Washington Sea Grant was formally recognized as a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for its work in preparing coastal communities for hazardous weather.
NOAA’s Weather-Ready Nation initiative seeks to improve the nation’s responsiveness and resilience to extreme weather, water and climate events. Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors are partner agencies, organizations and businesses that share a commitment with NOAA to collaborate on outreach about extreme-weather preparedness and to serve as examples themselves by ...
Read MoreDecember, 2016
Shoreline armoring removal: synthesis and assessment of restoration effectiveness in Puget Sound
Jeffrey Cordell, Jason Toft and Emily Howe, UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences; Megan Dethier, UW Friday Harbor Laboratories
Local officials, state resource managers and conscientious property owners have shown growing enthusiasm for removing bulkheads to restore natural shorelines and shore habitats. The Puget Sound Partnership’s 2014/15 Action Agenda identifies shoreline armoring as a significant threat and restoration as a main strategic goal. But monitoring of restoration sites ...
Read MoreOctober 1, 2016
“When we appreciate and understand all of the benefits of our locally produced seafood, we’ll be motivated to ensure that future generations can enjoy them as well.”– Deb Granger, SeaFeast General Manager
The first inaugural SeaFeast event in Bellingham aimed to introduce the community to the thriving, but little-known seafood industry and culture of Bellingham Bay.
To that end, organizers of Bellingham SeaFeast 2016 unveiled a variety of events, including seafood sampling, boat rides on Bellingham Bay, cooking demonstrations, contests and ...
Read MoreSeptember 23, 2016
In late August 2016, a team of volunteer monitors caught an invasive European green crab (Carcinus maenas) in Westcott Bay, San Juan Island, marking the first confirmation of this global invader in Washington’s Puget Sound. A few weeks later, an additional green crab was found in Padilla Bay by staff of the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (Padilla Bay NERR).
After the discovery in the San Juan Islands, a rapid response action to determine the size of the population ...
Read MoreJuly 25, 2016
To paraphrase an old saying, “There’s no use crying over spilled oil.” Yet many are concerned with oil pollution in Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands.
What people don’t realize is that the biggest source of spills so far in the region has not been tankers and freighters, but small recreational and commercial vessels. Small spills, such as oily bilge discharge, account for 75 percent of the oil dumped into local waters over the last 10 years.
In ...
Read MoreJune 30, 2016
Senator Cantwell’s office recently hosted a Capital Hill briefing called Tides of Change on economic and social changes resulting from our changing oceans. The briefing featured a panel of experts, including WSG’s Social Scientist Melissa Poe, who spoke to a room filled with 60 legislative staff, federal agencies, and non-governmental organizations and several Sea Grant fellows.
Read MoreApril 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 ...
Read More