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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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Humpback Whale

Puget Sound is home to many animals, a stop-over for others. The Humpback Whale is one such visitor. Passing the Washington coast on their long migration, a few Humpbacks enter Puget Sound each year.

This acrobatic whale winters in the tropics, breeding and calving. It summers in cold, rich Alaskan waters feeding on small schooling fish and little shrimplike creatures called krill. Humpbacks use a variety of methods to capture large quantities of the small creatures they eat. Their most inventive technique is bubble netting. From below their prey, the whales blow bubbles through their blowholes making a curtain to corral the prey. Then with mouth open wide, the whale swims upward through the mass engulfing its meal.

Male Humpbacks are well known for their long, complex songs, created by forcing air through nasal cavities. Sung primarily in the tropics, each song is unique and changes yearly. Why Humpbacks sing remains a mystery.

Scientists recognize individual Humpback Whales by the distinctive markings on their flukes, or tail, which they raise high just before diving.

In our waters, these gentle giants are slowly recovering from years of whaling. But danger remains. Each year around the world, thousands of whales, porpoises, and dolphins die entangled in fishing nets.

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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