Species population restoration

On January 12, 2011, SeaDoc's Chief Scientist, Joe Gaydos, went down to Olympia to address the Washington State Senate Natural Resources and Marine Waters Committee.

His basic message: Our natural resources translate directly into money for Washington State. 

• 47% of Washington residents participate in wildlife watching.
• Watchable wildlife accounts for a total economic output of $1.78 billion.
• Watchable wildlife generates or maintains nearly 22,000 jobs.

To put that in perspective, 22,000 jobs is just slightly less than Boeing, the state's largest employer, and 5 times the number of jobs at the next largest employer, Microsoft. 

Joe makes a compelling argument that protecting our natural resources is more than just tree-hugging. It's a requirement for our future economic prosperity.

Get Joe's full presentation by downloading the narrative as a PDF.

It's a fast read, and it's entertaining.

You can also watch a video of the event (opens in a new window).

Harbor seal populations have exploded nearly tenfold in the Salish Sea since the 1970s, while at the same time many rockfish species have plummeted. Some fishermen blame that on the increase in hungry seals. But coincidence is not science. So who ya gonna call?
 
SeaDoc-funded scientists rolled up their sleeves and collected almost 1,000 samples of seal scat in the San Juan Islands. Detailed analysis of these samples revealed that herring make up nearly 60% of these harbor seals' diets, with their next favorite meals being salmon, pollock and cod-like fish. The seal's total menu, though, was surprisingly diverse, with seals chowing down on at least 35 species of fish! Still, through the entire first year of the study, less than 3% of samples contained rockfish bones. Case closed? Not so fast...
 
In the second year, 12% of the samples contained rockfish remains, particularly in the winter when there are fewer salmon locally. With all the seals in the Salish Sea, those numbers could impact rockfish recovery. That doesn't mean, however, that we should start controlling seal populations: this study showed seals also have a taste for dogfish, another major fish predator. So fewer seals could mean more dogfish. The real answer is to remember that all parts of our ecosystem are tightly intertwined. Rockfish recovery depends upon ecosystem recovery, including salmon recovery, herring recovery and so on around the Sea.

More information on this topic:

• The original report on this study (so you can see what we've learned since the first round)
• The Puget Sound Partnership's resource page on rockfish.
• SeaDoc's comments on the proposed (12/2009) rockfish conservation plan by the WA Dept of Fish & Wildlife.
• All the info on our site about rockfish (automatic search)
• All the info on the site about predator/prey relationships (automatic search)

(You can do these last two searches yourself by choosing "browse by species" or "browse by issue" from the Salish Sea menu at left.)

Here's a video (aimed at kids) that gives a behind-the-scenes look at how this kind of research is done.

Gaydos, J.K. and K.V.K. Gilardi. 2003. Species of concern in the Georgia Basin/Puget Sound Marine Ecosystem: more support for a transboundary ecosystem approach to marine conservation. Proceedings of the 2003 Georgia Basin/Puget Sound Research Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia. Download PDF.

Gaydos, J. K.. 2005. Keynote Address. Proceedings of the 2005 Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conference, Seattle, Washington. Download PDF.