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Brackett's Landing
Shoreline Sanctuary Conservation Area
WAC
220-16-720: "'Brackett's Landing Shoreline Sanctuary Conservation
Area' is defined as those bed lands and tidelands owned by the City
of Edmonds at Brackett's Landing Shoreline Sanctuary, and the water
column above these bed lands and tidelands including all of the
area known as Edmonds Underwater Park." Effective since 1970.
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| CLICK
IMAGE TO ENLARGE MAP
 
Geographic
Statistics
| Area
Type |
Acres |
Hectares |
| Intertidal |
13.89 |
5.62 |
| Subtidal |
32.99 |
13.35 |
| Total |
46.88 |
18.97 |
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Links
to other imagery about this site
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 The
map of the Brackett's Landing Shoreline Sanctuary at left
shows the locations of the photographer from where the images
below were taken.
A
view of the north end from point "A". The street at
the far end going off to the right (east) is Caspers
Street, defining the northern boundary.
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Looking
westward down Caspers Street from point "B". The green
bench at the end of the road is a good visual clue from
the water of the boundary.
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The
southern entrance of the area, taken from point "E".
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| Recreational
Restrictions / Openings |
| Species |
Status |
Comments,
notes... |
| Salmon |
Closed |
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| Trout |
Closed |
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| Bottomfish |
Closed |
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| Shellfish |
Closed |
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| Forage
Fish |
Closed |
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| Unclassified |
Closed |
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| Commercial
Restrictions / Openings |
Species |
Status |
Comments,
notes... |
| Salmon |
Closed |
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| Bottomfish |
Closed |
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| Shellfish |
Closed |
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| Forage
Fish |
Closed |
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| Unclassified |
Closed |
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This
panorama was taken from point "C", the center of the area,
and sweeps 180° from SW (left edge) to NE (right edge).
This panorama
was taken from the southern boundary (point "D") of the area,
and sweeps 90° from NW (left edge) to NE (right edge).
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| Prominent
and unique features |
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Edmonds Underwater Park is a portion of the area owned
or controlled by the City of Edmonds designated as Brackett's
Landing Shoreline Sanctuary. Brackett's Landing Shoreline
Sanctuary includes intertidal areas owned or under the
control of the City in addition to the underwater park
area. The shore consists of sandy beaches recessed in
two small coves to the north of a ferry pier. A jetty
consisting of revetment rocks juts into the water, splitting
the conservation area.
The primary subtidal habitat of the underwater park
is a wide, sand flat gently sloping from the shore seaward.
The maximum depth at the offshore extent of the park
is approximately 40 feet (mllw). At the nearshore edge
of the sand flats, healthy beds of eelgrass separate
the intertidal zone from the deeper subtidal habitats.
This habitat contains many artificial structures that
attract fishes normally associated with rocky habitats.
The largest artificial structure is a sunken drydock,
and other features include sunken tugboats and other
vessels, construction tires, concrete rubble, plastic
piping, and plastic crates. A lattice of ropes provides
a trail system for divers to follow and orient themselves
to the underwater features. The artificial features
and the trail of the park are maintained by a group
of avid volunteer divers. Bladed kelps such as Laminaria
saccarhina occur sporadically throughout the subtidal,
photic zone, and these are attached to artificial structures
or sporadic rocks on the bottom. Foliose red algae may
be found on these substrates, and the drydocks and larger
structures may support bull kelp (Nereocystis leutkeana).
Sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca) covers much of the
subtidal sand flats in the park. |
| Description
of fish, bird, and mammal resources at the site |
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The predominant fishes include copper rockfish (Sebastes
caurinus), quillback rockfish (S. maliger),
lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus), and cabezon (Scorpaenichthys
marmoratus). Kelp greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus),
painted greenling (Oxylebius pictus), surfperches
(Embiotocidae), and black rockfish (S. melanops)
are also common in the park. These fishes in particular
are associated with the artificial habitats. Flatfishes
are often found on the sand and mud habitats away from
the artificial structures and the eelgrass beds support
many small fishes such as bay pipefish (Sygnathus leptorhynchus),
juvenile codfishes (Gadidae), and shiner perch
(Cymatogaster aggregata). Pelagic schooling fishes
may be seen in the park such as juvenile and adult salmon,
tubesnouts (Aulorhynchus flavidus), and juvenile
herring (Clupea harengus pallasi).
Predominant macro-invertebrates include giant anemones
(Metridium senile) that cover much of the artificial
structures,
Marine mammals frequent the site, including harbor seals
and sea lions. Diving ducks such as surf and white-winged
scoters, and red-breasted mergansers can be observed
during the winter at the park. Red-necked grebes (Podiceps
grisegena), Western grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis),
and horned grebes (Podiceps auritus) also occur
in the reserve, as do seabirds such as marbled murrelets
(Brachyramphus marmoratus). |
| Programs
in place to manage the site |
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WDFW regulations prohibit recreational and commercial
fishing at the Brackett's Landing Conservation Area, and
WDFW manages the site as fully-protected marine reserve
for non-tribal citizens. The taking of all species of
invertebrates and fishes is prohibited by WDFW regulations
and the City of Edmonds as the shoreline property owners.
The shore property was originally owned by a local citizen
who donated his property to the City of Edmonds with the
condition that collecting and harvest activities would
be prohibited.
Volunteer efforts are very important at this site. A
group of dedicated divers meet every Saturday morning
to conduct trail maintenance and deploy artificial structures
in the park. The volunteers and the City of Edmonds
have provided signage and interpretive materials, but
Edmonds Park Beach Rangers provide formal beach walks
and enforce city codes that prohibit the removal of
embedded organisms. Another group of volunteers conducts
censuses and studies of lingcod and their extensive
spawning activity in the park.
The bedlands are leased to the City of Edmonds by the
Department of Natural Resources, which provides protection
for the benthic in-fauna and gives the City a proprietary
stewardship role as the land-manager of the subtidal
area.
WDFW Enforcement Officers patrol the waters and shoreline
of the conservation area, and fishers are informed of
the prohibited fishing in the WDFW recreational fishing
pamphlet and by shore side signs.
The underwater park is the centerpiece of monitoring
program for marine reserves conducted by WDFW scientists.
The site is surveyed frequently each year when scientists
conduct visual surveys using scuba diving and assess
the fish populations within the reserve. Fish are identified,
counted, and measured along permanent transect corridors
at the drydock. These observations provide measures
of fish density, size distributions, and reproductive
effort that can be compared over time and with similar
surveys conducted at nearby fished areas. |
| Issues
of concern |
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The site is immediately adjacent to the Edmonds Ferry
terminal, with associated maintenance activities at the
ferry terminal. Ferry and pier maintenance activities
may disrupt fish populations and habitat in the park.
The size of this site is quite small, and fishing at
the edges of the preserve could affect fish that make
feeding excursions outside the site.
The site is an artificial habitat and this habitat may
poorly mimic a naturally functioning rocky habitat.
Volunteer divers frequently modify the physical structures
by adding artificial materials and to replace the artificial
features that are continually disintegrating. This may
prevent the maturing of ecological succession by the
invertebrate and fish communities, and the relative
simplicity of the habitat may provide insufficient habitat
diversity to sustain prey and predator species.
The site has very high diver use and the potential for
human disturbance of the fish populations by this visitation
is unknown. Wintertime mass die-offs of two nesting
species, lingcod and cabezon, have been observed occasionally.
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| Performance
measures |
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This site was closed to fishing to provide an underwater
dive park for divers. It has succeeded admirably in that
regard with use estimated as over 20,000 diver visits
annually.
Biological performance measures include:
Sizes
of principle marine fish increasing or staying the same
Densities
of rockfishes, lingcod, and surfperches, increasing
or remaining moderately high
Increasing
or high levels of fish reproduction.
This area has also been closed to harvest for nearly
30 years, longer than any other in Puget Sound, and
has become an important reference area. It has supplied
information on the reaction of fish populations to harvest
closures. This information is being used by WDFW to
design the network of reserves. WDFW will continue to
monitor the site. |
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