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Stormwater Monitoring Season is Here! 

 

Autumn 2022 starts our second two-year stormwater sampling campaign. This time with a twist: new citizen scientists in three more cities will be monitoring city stormwater outfalls in addition to continuing our work in Anacortes. Oak Harbor, Mukilteo, and Edmonds are now part of the expanded monitoring work that Friends of Skagit Beaches is leading in the North Sound. 

20221008 104425 1000226 1K smThis work is funded by a grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundations’ Southern Resident Killer Whale Conservation Program for the purpose of improving habitat, food sources, and conducting research to support recovery of the Southern Resident Orca population within our region. The grant covers the costs for volunteer coordination, recruiting, training, equipping, and managing the data captured by our volunteers.

During the summer of 2022 Friends established a partnership with the Snohomish County Beach Watcher program and the Sound Waters Stewards on Whidbey Island to connect to eager citizen science volunteers in their programs.  We recruited, trained, and equipped volunteers in Oak Harbor, Mukilteo, and Edmonds, as well as new volunteers for Anacortes. All three groups of eager volunteers are ready to get down to the beach and sometimes even in the water (photo left) to sample and take monitoring measurements. 20211115 102742 1022691 1Kpix

This volunteer effort addresses a shortcoming in our federal Clean Water Act: no required periodic monitoring of stormwater outfall pipes. Local towns would have difficulty in financially supporting the manpower and equipment costs for this activity. That’s where Friends of Skagit Beaches and our citizen science volunteers come to the rescue . . .

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Harbor Seal

Harbor Seals are very curious animals. With eyes just above water, they watch drifting boats and kayaks, giving boaters an unsettled feeling they are not alone. Just when you notice a seal's presence, it sinks with hardly a ripple, leaving you wondering. On land, seals are cautious and dive into the water if approached.

This well-known resident of the Pacific Northwest is the marine mammal you're most likely to see every season and in many places.

As a true seal, the Harbor Seal has ears but lacks the external ear flaps of sea lions. Streamlined bodies make them fast, efficient swimmers. On land, seals grip with claws on their front flippers and move like big caterpillars. Look for Harbor Seals "hauled out" at low tide on rocks, sand bars, and tide flats.

Harbor Seal pups are born in summer and an hour after birth can already swim. In the first few weeks of life, mom often leaves her pup high and dry while she searches for food, sometimes for more than a day. Harbor Seals eat fish, squid, crabs, and small octopi. At times well-meaning people remove pups, thinking they're abandoned. Leave seal pups alone and let mom retrieve them.

There are lots of Harbor Seals, but they do have their challenges. Each year many are tangled in fishing nets and drown. Though they are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, people sometimes kill seals thinking they compete with people for fish. The most important thing for Harbor Seals and all marine creatures is a clean marine environment. We can help them by keeping our own impacts to a minimum.

In Friends Notes

Autumn 2022 starts our second two-year stormwater sampling campaign. This t...
UPDATE: Grant for Fidalgo Bay and City of Anacortes stormwater monitoring. ...
Compiled by Chris Wood with contributions from Ellen Anderson, Betty Carter...

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