Research Briefs

Research
Investigate status of health of greater Puget Sound by monitoring indices of population abundance, density, geographic distribution, reproductive success and contaminant levels in body tissue of certain marine birds and mammals on Washington's inner marine waters.

Species Concerned: While all species encountered on marine waters in this survey effort are recorded, survey design and methodologies emphasize diving marine birds, sea and bay ducks and harbor seals.

Investigator: David Nysewander, Game Division, Wildlife Program.

Purpose of research: Assess the status of the health of Puget Sound and establish a baseline of data that will enable trends to be tracked over time on species that spend some significant portion of their year on marine waters and are highly dependent upon the marine resource.

Geographic area: All Washington inner marine waters, from Olympia north to Point Roberts and the Strait of Juan de Fuca west to Neah Bay.

Time frame of study: These monitoring efforts are ongoing, designed for long-term (20+ years) tracking of trends. Joint Partners: This component works closely with a suite of other Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program components (fish, shellfish, water, sediment, nearshore) which focus on other aspects of greater Puget Sound. Most of these other components are conducted through other state agencies, such as Department of Ecology, Department of Natural Resources and Department of Health.

Funding amount and sources: Funds come from the states' General Fund. The amounts vary biennially, but the bird and mammal component was funded in 1992, while most others were funded in 1989. This component has never been funded anywhere near as robustly as the earlier components and remains the least funded of all the components.

Volunteers needed? Volunteers have not been used extensively since specialized skills (aerial surveys) and time commitments are required. Volunteer efforts have been incorporated by special projects (i.e. shorebird surveys) when funds were provided for someone to coordinate, lead, and manage the efforts and data quality supplied by a volunteer crew. One of the major limits to incorporating more volunteer effort is the lack of funding and staff time that would be needed by such an effort.