Environmental Threats

August 20, 2019

While you’re washing away the lingering sunscreen from the last beach day of summer, you’re probably reminiscing about carefree time with family and friends, and daydreaming about the sights and smells at the water’s edge. But have you ever thought about your sunscreen’s impact on water quality? 

Summer brings a whole host of human-made threats to water quality. Sewage, oil and debris get most of the press, but the products we use on our skin, ...

August 8, 2019

Last month WSG’s Meg Chadsey spoke to the Van Alen Climate Council — a group of built environment designers — about ocean acidification’s impacts to local seafood 

With bustling waterfronts, famous seafood markets, a robust culinary scene, and an estuary rich with marine life, the Puget Sound region seems to be the picture of seafood security. But look closer at the web of people, the sea, and the climate, and the fragility and vulnerability of ...

King5 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.

September 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 ...

August 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 ...

April, 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 ...