Species population declines
Species of Concern nearly double between 2009 and 2011
The number of species listed as threatened or endangered or which are candidates for listing in the Salish Sea almost doubled in just two years.
A study unveiled on October 26, 2011 at the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference showed that the number of species that are threatened or endangered, or that are candidates for listing in the Salish Sea, has nearly doubled in the last 2 years. When last tallied in 2008 there were 64 species. Today there are 113.
Species of concern are species that warrant special attention to ensure their conservation. In the Salish Sea, four jurisdictions list species: British Columbia’s Provincial Government, Washington State, the Canadian Federal Government and the US Federal Government. The SeaDoc Society has tracked species of concern since 2002.
In 2008 the US Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Canada adopted the metric as a transboundary ecosystem indicator, recognizing that the number of species listed is a crude measure of the health of the ecosystem. For scientists the list illustrates where cross-jurisdiction (State or Provincial / Federal) and transboundary (US/Canadian) collaboration is needed to recover declining species.
According to Nick Brown, the SeaDoc Society scientist who presented the findings at the Salish Sea Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, the dramatic increase is due to our increased understanding of the species that use the marine waters as well as a true increase in the number of species listed in the last two years. Brown said “about half, or 27 of the 49 newly added species, were already listed and were added because we didn’t consider them users of the Salish Sea until a recently published paper identified them.” (That paper is also by SeaDoc: see here for more info.)
He also pointed out: “more importantly, 23 species including 5 fishes and 15 birds were added to the list because they were listed by one or more jurisdiction in the last two years.” These included listings of 5 fish species (Pacific Sardine, Chum Salmon, Coho Salmon, Pink Salmon, and Surf Smelt) as well as 18 bird species (American Kestrel, Band-tailed Pigeon, Belted Kingfisher, Brant, Cackling Goose, Clark’s Grebe, Horned Grebe, Green Heron, Killdeer, Long-tailed duck, Yellow-billed loon, Red Phalarope, Rough-legged Hawk, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Buller’s and Flesh-footed Shearwaters, and the Snowy Owl).
Co-author Joe Gaydos said “even if we just consider the 23 newly listed species, this is the greatest jump seen since we began tracking this in 2002.” The list historically has climbed by 1-3 species per year. Gaydos pointed out “the increase in species listed is good in that it shows that the listing agencies are paying attention to species in decline, but bad in that it is an example of the slow decay of our ecosystem.” In light of projected increased population growth, on-going habitat modifications and expected climate change, Gaydos expects the number of listed species in this ecosystem to continue to increase and pointed out that it’s time to increase efforts and “bring out our A-game to recover declining populations before it’s too late.”
Download the paper: click here for the link
Species of Concern within the Salish Sea: Changes from 2002 to 2011
Birds and Mammals that Depend on the Salish Sea: A Compilation
2011 Rockfish Recovery Workshop recap
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...
Missing Marine Birds Lecture: Audio and Video
On March 8, 2011, Dr. Ignacio Vilchis presented an overview of his Salish Sea Marine Birds project, along with some preliminary results.
Listen to the audio of the presentation:
Download for your computer or iPod: Right-click here.
Streaming in your web browser: Click here to open up a page with the streaming player.
Video coming soon.
The Economics of Ecosystem Resoration
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).
Scoter bag limit reduced: SeaDoc science gets results
A new bag limit on scoters and certain other ducks is a result of SeaDoc research conducted several years ago.
From 1980 to 2005, the population of scoters in Puget Sound declined by 50%.
In 2006, SeaDoc funded a detailed analysis of hunting mortality on scoter populations in Washington State.
This study showed that although overall scoter harvest rates in Puget Sound were within sustainable levels, harvest levels in several Washington counties were at levels thought to be not sustainable.
At that time, the Department of Fish and Wildlife embarked upon additional banding and monitoring of scoters over a three-year period.
In August of 2010, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted a new daily bag limit of 2 per day for scoters, long-tailed ducks and goldeneyes. (The prior limit was 4 per day for scoters and long-tail ducks, and 7 per day for goldeneyes.)
These are all long-lived species that depend on high adult survival. While hunting might not be identified as the reason for declines in species such as scoters, the fact that populations have declined so precipitously is cause for concern as hunting mortality can be additive or even synergistic with other factors causing declines.
SeaDoc chief scientist Joe Gaydos notes that "The Department of Fish and Wildlife has done an outstanding job of monitoring Puget Sound sea duck populations since 1993. Don Kraege and the biologists at WDFW should be recognized for the outstanding job they have done. Every effort has been made to retain hunting opportunities for the public while using the best available science to determine when hunting pressure could be negatively impacting the long-term sustainability of populations and when bag limits should be reduced."
The current reduction in scoter, long-tailed duck and goldeneye daily bag limits is a scientifically grounded decision that supports the long-term sustainability of these populations.
Read a summary of the original study.
Photo by Len Blumin
Can you tell just by looking?
Can you tell if an ecosystem is healthy just by looking?
In the case of the Salish Sea, things look good on the surface. But that doesn't mean everything is healthy. Just as blood tests can reveal underlying conditions in a person who looks perfectly fit, science can show us what's really going on.
Joe Gaydos and Northwest Straits Commision chair Jonathan White have written about this issue in the May 12 edition of the Islands Sounder. Read it here: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/isj/opinion/93596144.html
New Comments on Rockfish Conservation
Independent of the recent Federal listing of 3 rockfish species, Washington State is working on their rockfish recovery plan. Today SeaDoc submitted comments on the revised draft Environmental Impact Statement.
While most of the recovery plan is good, the State is still proposing that hatchery production and the use of artificial habitat be used as part of the recovery strategy. SeaDoc feels that hatcheries and artifical habitat are not good ideas.
PDFs:
Read the WDFW draft rockfish EIS
Comments must be received by 5pm on May 21, 2010. Visit the Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife for more information.
Rockfish Listed by NOAA Fisheries
http://www.seadocsociety.org/files/pdfs/GB-PS_Species_of_Concern_2008%20Manuscript.pdf
Also see:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011714303_rockfish28m.html
