Friends Notes

The Salish Sea Stewards Class of 2018 completed their training on Tuesday, May 22. Twenty-five eager and engaged community members completed the ten-week course, which included hands-on training in forage fish spawning monitoring, intertidal monitoring, and crabber outreach. Many regional experts gave their time to the class, presenting on a variety of important topics, such as ocean acidification, the importance of citizen science, and tribal treaty rights. The training included field time at Bowman Bay, the shoreline of Fidalgo Bay and the mudflats of Padilla Bay.

 The new Salish Sea Stewards have committed to give back to the Salish Sea 50 hours of their time over the next year. Programs needing volunteers were highlighted throughout the trainings and class participants have already signed up for many that interest them. Many have already started volunteering at intertidal monitoring, heron monitoring, and education events for school children. When these Salish Stewards complete their volunteering in twelve months, the Salish Sea will have benefitted from a whopping 1,250 hours of dedicated volunteer energy!

by Hillary Foster

This past year I, as a member of the Puget SoundCorps (PSC) through Washington Conservation Corps/AmeriCorps and WA Department of Natural Resources Aquatic Reserves Program, have started a new, long-term monitoring project regarding marine debris. The PSC has adopted the protocols for the NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Program. This project serves as a basis for nationwide monitoring and assessment of marine debris. It seeks to answer questions such as how big is the marine debris problem, how is it changing over time, and which debris types are most common.

Puget SoundCorps members Matt Morassutti, Hillary Foster, and Nathan Boyer-Rechlin with volunteers Rachel Best and Tom Flanagan getting ready for the standing-stock survey at Padilla Bay.

The data we will be collecting will help to determine types and concentration of debris present by material category, examine spatial distribution and variety of debris, and investigate temporal trends in debris types and concentrations.There are two study sites- an accumulation site in Fidalgo Bay and standing-stock site in Padilla Bay. Each site is 100 meters long and sampled monthly.

This project encourages volunteer involvement and we have had several volunteers come out and helped us to do these surveys, including Tom Flanagan and Rachel Best. The accumulation site seeks to identify debris material types and weight and their rate of deposition and flux onto the shoreline. The standing-stock site is a quick assessment of the total load of debris and is used to determine the density of debris present. Debris density reflects the long-term balance between debris inputs and removal and is important to understanding the overall impact of debris. All together this project aims to help in increasing our knowledge of the marine debris problem while working with community volunteers.

So far, we have completed 4 surveys since May 2017. We will be taking a month break from surveying while we transition from one PSC crew to the other but hope to start back up in October or November. Because so few surveys have been completed at this point and time, analyses of the data are not yet available. If interested in volunteering in future events, please e-mail Jamie Kilgo at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Volunteer Tom Flanagan assisting Puget SoundCorps members Matt Morassutti, Kat Wells, and Jaime Liljegren collect trash from the accumulation site at Fidalgo Bay.

Volunteers Rachel Best and Tom Flanagan with PSC member Matt Morassutti documenting a glass fragment in the standing stock site at Padilla Bay.

Photos by Kaitln Elsinger/Anacortes American

And you can see the Go Anacortes article by Kaitlin Elsinger here

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE SOME FISH EGGS?”

This is what Michelle and Barbara have been saying over 1000 times to captivate the interest of the general public since the inception of the forage fish interpretive station only two years ago.

During that time the forage fish interpretive station has followed the citizen scientist forage fish egg surveyors onto the beaches of Fidalgo Island, participated in educational events such as Fidalgo Bay Day and the Salmon Festival, and presented an interactive program to junior ecologists at Padilla Bay and elementary classrooms.

Our mission is to educate our visitors about – (1) what are forage fish, (2) why are forage fish so important to warrant this much effort, (3) what constitutes a healthy beach for Surf Smelt egg spawning?

If you are interested in learning the answers to these and many more questions please look for us on the beach!