Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative

What's New

Election of Officers

At its April 27 meeting in Port Townsend, the Northwest Straits Commission held elections, retaining Governor appointee Jerry Masters as chair for a second term and electing Steve Revella of the San Juan MRC as vice-chair. Many thanks to Island MRC representative Lenny Corin, who served as vice-chair for the past year.

North Olympic Tsunami Debris Symposium

As we anticipate the arrival of debris pulled out to sea in the 2011 Japanese tsunami, many questions and concerns have arisen about everything from derelict “ghost” ships to what to do with items encountered while beachcombing.

In an effort to encourage dialog between citizens and agencies about how to effectively deal with tsunami debris, Clallam Marine Resources Committee is partnering with Surfrider Foundation and NOAA, hosting a Tsunami Debris workshop series and planning session led by renowned oceanographer, Curt Ebbesmeyer, to share information and science about tsunami marine debris. Presentations and workshops will take place May 21-23 in Port Angeles and Sequim. Click here for more information.

Cornet Bay Restoration

In Island County the MRC has been working for several years on a shoreline restoration project in Cornet Bay, a project that has successfully leveraged other grant funding and volunteers. The project is a multi-partner shoreline restoration with principle grants managed by the Northwest Straits Foundation. WSU Beach Watcher volunteers are in their fourth year of counting critical ESA listed Chinook and other fish at the beach with just a small amount of Island MRC funding. This work generates data analysis and reporting writing that is funded and managed by Island MRC, and made available to the public and the scientific community on the Island MRC web site. Click here to read the most recent report: Juvenile Salmon and Nearshore Fish Use in SHallow Intertidal Habitat Associated with Cornet Bay.

Little Fish, Big Impact

On April 11, Northwest Straits Commissioner Joe Gaydos and staff member Caroline Gibson were among twenty participants from Washington, Oregon, and California in a meeting on forage fish protection in the California Current Ecosystem. Central to discussions was the extraordinary importance of forage fishes regionally and worldwide, as demonstrated in the new report from a national task force that included leading researchers at the University of Washington. It was noted that surveys and monitoring by the MRCs and project partners are engaging local citizens and generating information that is critical to forage fish habitat restoration and protection efforts.

Click here to watch an impressive video produced by the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force summarizing the recommendations from their report.

Ocean Acidification Seminar

On March 22 the Northwest Straits Initiative hosted seminar on Ocean Acidification. Brad Warren of Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and Dr. Terrie Klinger from the UW School of Marine Affairs talked about the science of ocean acidification and the implications for fisheries in Washington. Click here to read more on ocean acidification.