Strait Of Juan De Fuca

Jamestown S’Klallam, WDFW partner on Strait Geoduck Study

Due to its popularity with harvesters and shellfish lovers, scientists are learning more about geoduck clams found in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

During the past two years, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) have been collecting age and genetic data from these particular bivalves found in the Strait.

“Geoduck is currently managed as a single Puget Sound stock,” said Kelly Toy, Jamestown S’Klallam’s shellfish management biologist. “But there may be regional differences that exist between geoducks in the Strait and other regions within Puget Sound. Gathering age and genetic data specific to geoducks in the Strait will help us determine if there are regional differences and develop a model that would help improve the sustainability of the Strait’s geoduck resource.” (more…)

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Puyallup Tribe urges state to save Voights Creek hatchery

From the Seattle Times:

Buried deep within the 298 pages of the proposed Senate operating budget for 2009-11 is the possible closure of the Voights Creek Hatchery on the Puyallup River watershed.

The long-standing hatchery in Orting, which has been producing salmon since 1917, pumps out a massive 780,000 yearling coho and 1.6 million hatchery-marked chinook annually.
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Rescue tug rescues the coastal environment

It happened again Dec. 3: Another near grounding of a cargo ship off the Washington coast at our home in Neah Bay. Forty-foot seas powered by 90 mph winds knocked out the main steering on the 720-foot Mattson Kauai near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Waves shattered all of the windows in the ship’s wheelhouse as the vessel wallowed offshore. Thankfully, the ocean rescue tug Gladiator was on station and able to tow the Kauai to safety. Sadly, neither the state nor federal government will commit to financing placement of a rescue tug year-round in Neah Bay. Close calls like the Kauai don’t make much of a splash in the news, and they happen more often than you know. In the past eight years, the part-time rescue tug at Neah Bay has assisted more than 30 ships in distress. Every year more than 2,000 cargo ships enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca bound for Puget Sound.

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Study shows how shorelines have changed in 150 years

LITTLE BOSTON (February 6, 2007) – History is helping show the way for salmon recovery efforts in Kitsap County and on the Olympic Peninsula.

A tool created recently by the Point No Point Treaty Council (PNPTC), allows anyone, from government agencies to private citizens, to access details about the history of certain shorelines and estuaries along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Hood Canal. The tool, in a report format, can be accessed at the PNPTC Web site, www.pnptc.org.

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