August 1, 2019
Facility funded by State Parks’ Clean Vessel Act program
OLYMPIA – A new sewage pumpout for recreational boaters is now open at the Shaw Island General Store in the San Juan Islands. The facility is expected to serve hundreds of boaters this summer.
The idea to install a pumpout facility came from Terri and Steve Mason, longtime island residents and owners of the Shaw General Store.
“I grew up on Orcas ...
May 8, 2019
The joint team from Washington Sea Grant (WSG), Climate Impacts Group (CIG) and Earth and Space Sciences (ESS) that released a report containing the best sea level rise projections yet for Washington’s coasts last summer received the UW College of the Environment Award for Outstanding Community Impact. The report is part of the Washington Coastal Resilience Project, a three-year effort funded in 2016 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“The team has been instrumental in helping ...
Read MoreMarch 26, 2019
Washington Sea Grant held viewing parties in Oak Harbor and Raymond in January to help local residents understand the effects of sea level rise
Sea level rise has major implications for coastal Washington. The recent projections released by Washington Sea Grant, WA Department of Ecology, UW Climate Impacts Group, The Nature Conservancy, and other partners predict approximately one foot of sea level rise by 2050, and up to two feet by 2100.
Bridget Trosin, Coastal Policy Specialist at ...
Read MoreIn the 1990s, the endangered status of the short-tailed albatross catalyzed efforts to reduce the number of birds accidentally killed as bycatch in Alaska, home to the country’s biggest fisheries. Marine fisheries scientist Ed Melvin, at Washington Sea Grant at the University of Washington, and research associate Kim Dietrich, an independent contractor, were at the forefront of a collaborative research effort that led to Alaska’s longline fisheries adopting streamer lines in 2002, a technology that is towed behind vessels ...
Read MoreDecember 18, 2018
The ability to smell is critical for salmon. They depend on scent to avoid predators, sniff out prey and find their way home at the end of their lives when they return to the streams where they hatched to spawn and die.
New research from the University of Washington and NOAA Fisheries’ Northwest Fisheries Science Center shows this powerful sense of smell might be in trouble as carbon emissions continue to be absorbed by our ocean. Ocean ...
Read MoreKing5 News covered the spread of invasive European green crab in a recent article.
“Since the first spotting in 2016, green crab have now been located at seven different sites. McDonald and others are worried that the crabs will get more challenging to remove if they’re able to make it to the south Sound, because the offspring in the area would likely stay in the area.”
Read more in the article.
Read MoreOctober 3, 2018
A new story in the Sequim Gazette featuring WSG aquatic invasive species specialist Emily Grason details how far invasive European green crab have spread on the Olympic Peninsula.
Read the story here: http://www.sequimgazette.com/news/european-green-crabs-reach-stretches-across-north-olympic-peninsula/
Read MoreSeptember 5, 2018
Collaborative effort produces a new marine debris action plan for Washington
Trash on our shorelines and in the ocean, also known as marine debris, is a persistent and growing global environmental issue. A lot is at stake particularly in Washington State, where outdoor recreation, shellfish harvests and aquaculture, and commercial, tribal and recreational fisheries are all ...
Read MoreAugust 27, 2018
The Washington State Invasive Species Council, part of the Recreation and Conservation Office, was created by the state legislature in 2006 to provide policy-level direction, planning and coordination to comabat harmful invasive species throughout the state. The council recently hosted WSG marine ecologist Emily Grason as part of their Washington Pest Watch training webinars to talk about the WSG Crab Team. It covers the history of the species and why we care about it, how do identify ...
Read MoreMarch 1, 2018
The Sea Grant programs in Alaska and Washington are releasing a new, updated edition of the popular Fishermen’s Direct Marketing Manual. As the business climate of the seafood industry evolves, many fishermen are choosing to directly market their catch in hopes of capturing more of its value so the publication’s release is timely.
Hard copies of the 5th edition of the manual, edited by Terry Johnson, are now available through Alaska Sea Grant’s online bookstore. The ...
Read MoreDecember 20, 2017
Ocean acidification is threatening ecosystems, cultures and economies in Washington State – today. In 2012, Governor Jay Inslee recognized the importance of developing a strategy to address these challenges by creating the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification. After reviewing the scientific literature, the panel outlined a plan in its seminal report, Ocean Acidification: From Knowledge to Action.
The science on ocean acidification has come a long way over the last five years. Today, the Marine ...
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 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 ...
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