Inter-agency cooperation

This past week (June 28 & 29, 2011) SeaDoc co-hosted a Rockfish Recovery Workshop in Seattle with the State Department of Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries.

Nearly 100 scientists, fisheries managers, fishers and SCUBA divers attended the 2-day workshop to discuss the current state of knowledge on rockfish and to identify future needs related to recovering depleted rockfish populations in the Salish Sea.

There are 28 species of rockfish in the Salish Sea. Thirteen (13) are listed as species of concern and recently 3 species were listed under the US Endangered Species Act.

In addition to helping organize the workshop, SeaDoc also helped bring in Canadians to share their perspective on what has and has not worked with rockfish recovery on the other side of the border.

A lot of the research SeaDoc funded over the last 10 years was presented and plans were laid for moving rockfish recovery forward. The meeting proceedings will be published soon and will be available here on the SeaDoc website.

In the meantime, here's a recap:

(Please note that this summary is taken from my notes and if there are errors or misstatements they are mine, not the researchers/presenters! -Joe T.)

Historical Context Session

Wayne Palsson spoke on the biology and assessment of rockfishes in Puget Sound. Rockfishes are a diverse group of species with different life histories. They require various habitat during different life stages. They are adapted for slow growth, long survival, late maturity, low natural mortality rates, and high habitat fidelity. These are all factors that make recovery tough. There's a lack of long-term data that makes it hard to create conventional age-structure population models and biomass dynamic models. 

Chris Harvey reviewed the ecological history of rockfish exploitation in Puget Sound. Rockfish bones have been found in middens dating back 1,500 years. Much of the fishing pressure on rockfish began after the Boldt decision in 1974, which required that harvests in Puget Sound be coequally managed by the State government and the Treaty Tribes of Washington. It's also been influenced by demographic trends and by the promotion of the fishery by State government. (Unfortunately, as covered in Wayne Palsson's talk, it wasn't until 1982 that scientists learned that rockfish were generally 2 to 3 times longer lived than they'd thought, which meant the existing population models were not accurate.) By the time management efforts were deemed necessary, the greatest harvests had already occurred. 

Anne Beaudreau discussed her work to reconstruct historical trends in rockfish abundance. The lack of data on historical populations of rockfish is a major barrier to developing sustainable fisheries. Beaudreau and colleagues interviewed 101 individuals ranging in age from 24 to 90 years to try to derive trends in the abundance of rockfish from 1940 to the present. Of particular interest was the evidence of "shifting baselines." To a statistically significant degree, each age group of respondents interpreted the conditions at the beginning of their awareness as "abundant" and saw declines from there, but what was "declining" to an older person was "abundant" to a younger person. 

Benthic Habitat Surveys/Rockfish Abundance Estimates Session

Gary Greene presented the Salish Sea sea floor mapping project, which has produced bathymetric and habitat maps of the San Juan Islands area. Rockfish prefer particular habitat types, and the multibeam echosounders used by Greene and his colleagues allows these potential habitat areas to be identified. (Other participants were very interested in having these maps for other areas in the Salish Sea.

Bob Pacunski spoke on work to use non-lethal methods to survey rockfish populations. Traditional trawl or long-line sampling results in fish mortality, but using a small remotely-operated vehicle has been shown to be effective at providing population surveys. 

Stressors Session

Joan Drinkwin of the Northwest Straits Foundation spoke on the threat posed to rockfish by derelict fishing gear, including both nets and traps. The Northwest Straits Initiative has removed 3,860 nets from Puget Sound, all at less than 105 feet deep. There are 950 shallow-water nets still in the water, and at least 70 in deeper water. Based on studies of net mortality by the SeaDoc Society, approximately 1,600 rockfish per year are captured and killed in derelict nets each year in the United States portion of the Salish Sea. 

...More coming soon...

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).

Salish Sea Science Prize Award
February 8, 2009
Seattle, Washington

Award speech delivered by Joe Gaydos of the SeaDoc Society

Although Congressman Dicks has always been a big fan of science-based policy and we are now fortunate to have a President of the United States who has pledged to restore integrity to US science policy, our government has not always been known for valuing science or for basing important decisions on scientific information. As we all look at the huge task before us to design a healthy Salish Sea, it is clear that many of the untold thousands of decisions that we need to make must be based on science.

The SeaDoc Society created the Salish Sea Science Prize to recognize the importance of science in providing a foundation for designing a healthy Salish Sea ecosystem. Every two years this prize will be given to a prominent scientist or team of scientists whose work has resulted in the marked improvement of management or policy related to the conservation of marine wildlife and the Salish Sea marine ecosystem. A $2,000, no strings attached prize comes with this prestigious and one of a kind award, which is given in recognition of, and to honor the spirit of Ms. Stephanie Wagner, who loved the region and its wildlife.

Among many worthy individuals and groups that were nominated for consideration by the Award committee this year, the life work of this year's winner embodies the essence of the prize. This person's work has been collaborative and transboundary, drawing on the help of both US and Canadian Scientists. It also has been scientifically rigorous and the results have changed the way we think about, manage and protect marine wildlife.

Although the first live capture of a killer whale occurred in 1961, the development of a netting technique and large-scale commercial demand led to large increases in capture efforts in Washington and British Columbia in 1967. Before the captures ceased in 1977, more than 300 whales were likely captured, of which 55 were transferred to aquaria, while many others died.

During this time period this year's winner, collaborating with Canadian colleagues, pioneered the use of photo identification to study and individually identify killer whales. This work provided many new revelations:
•    That killer whales could be individually identified
•    That the Salish Sea was not home to unlimited killer whales free for the taking for display
•    That Salish Sea killer whales belonged to 2 ecotypes – fish eaters and marine mammal eaters
•    That resident fish eating whales had a non-dispersing matrilineal society

While many of these ideas were not initially accepted by the scientific community, this person's persistence in conducting an annual census of the Southern Resident killer whale population, one of the only true censuses conducted on any wildlife population, has come to make these facts known by school kids and citizens throughout the region and the world.

This annual census, conducted since 1975 and usually with little financial support, has become the basis of the population assessments that ultimately led to the Canadian and US listing of the Southern Resident Killer Whale community as endangered. Additionally this person's work has served as a foundation for our understanding of resident killer whale longevity, toxics loading in killer whales, and the implications of disease on the long-term viability of this population. This person's work formed a critical foundation for both the US and the Canadian killer whale recovery plans, as well as for new legislation such as that which creates a no-vessel zone around these animals to minimize anthropogenic impact on these animals as they feed and communicate.

Without a doubt, this person's long-term research and commitment to documenting the killer whales of the Salish Sea has contributed substantially to conservation initiatives and policy in the Salish Sea, and has served as an example for the world on why science is important for designing healthy ecosystems. It is with great pleasure tonight, that the SeaDoc Society awards the prestigious Salish Sea Science Prize to Mr. Ken Balcomb.