Something Fishy: Devastating die-off in Puget Sound

Low-oxygen event troubling in Hood Canal

Posted by Sarah van Schagen at 10:02 AM on 16 Nov 2006

Read more about: wildlife

Arrr mateys, there's nothin' like a ~~noggin o' rum~~ cuppa joe to ~~sober~~ wake ye up on a Thursday morn. And there's nothin' like a depressing video of a fish die-off to harsh ye mellow. The footage of Hood Canal comes from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and includes a brief explanation of the problem:

Hood Canal is an underwater fjord where normal oxygen exchange in the water takes place slowly because of the depth of the water and the canal's shape. Nitrogen entering the water from human sources stimulates algae blooms in the canal. When algae decomposes, it absorbs oxygen from the water. Under certain weather and wind conditions, the level of life-sustaining dissolved oxygen in the water drops so low that fish and other underwater species suffocate.

Parts of Hood Canal are prime habitat for slow-reproducing species, such as rockfish and lingcod. These fish are most susceptible to low-oxygen events because they normally live as long as 25 years before reproducing offspring. [Emphasis be mine.]

The video speaks for itself. It's pretty gruesome, so I recommend watching with one eye closed. (This here's where an eyepatch comes in handy!) As Billy Frank, Jr., says "[Puget Sound] is hollerin' for help."

For story: Something Fishy: Devastating die-off in Puget Sound
6 Comments | Post a Comment

nitrogen

This is a very sad video indeed.

Is it understood what the specific sources of nitrogen are?

Billy Frank's main fish is the salmon, but the predicament of the rockfish, lingcod and many other marine creatures is the same thing, really.

He has this to say, about improving the "Big H," the habitat, of chinook salmon in Puget Sound:

http://www.nwifc.org/recovery/statement.asp

I was puzzled by his putting some of the blame on "leaders in the east." Which leaders does he mean?

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 11:28 AM on 16 Nov 2006

Leaders in the East

CanisCandida,
I think he means the Federal government....

Sarah, forgive me!! I couldn't bear to watch it, but I share your concern (and thanks for posting this).

It's funny, Americans talk about water problems as if they only occur in "other" places, but it ain't neccessarily so....

patrick

by bookerly at 11:39 AM on 16 Nov 2006

Oh no, the Feds!

Right, Patrick, that is what I thought. But then I was confused by what Billy Frank was saying about developers and shopping malls, in that context. So, who specifically "in the east" is supporting shopping malls, at the expense of aquatic habitat? The Department of the Interior? The EPA? Or rather, Washington state's congressional delegation? Washington's Senators are environmental leaders, aren't they? Are the Representatives another story?

As for my other question, "nitrogen from human sources" is almost always associated, I think, with fertilizer run-off. It is perhaps not the job of the Fish and Wildlife people themselves to identify the sources. But if the nitrogen can be traced back to fertilizer, then apparently the fauna of Hood Canal is being threatened by agriculture as much as the fauna of the Klamath and Columbia Rivers. Not in the same way, of course -- with those rivers, the problem has been that farmers take too much water out of them, and leave too little for the fish, no?; and then there is another bunch of interests associated with the dams and hydro-electricity -- , but interestingly it may still be another example of how agriculture and healthy bodies of water have a hard time getting along.

In the Mississippi valley, farmers have been encouraged to plant natural boundaries between their fields and adjacent bodies of water, in order to prevent fertilizer run-off. I wonder how many have actually done that. And I wonder if the situation of the Hood Canal is at all analogous.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 12:14 PM on 16 Nov 2006

My guess is all of the above

In terms of who is supporting shopping malls at the expense of aquatic habitat. Are any Senators really environmentalists? I haven't seen it. And as for the rest, follow the money.

Some of the Grist folk should be nearby, maybe Sarah can answer your other questions?

There may be sewage problems as well (though how much of a factor they would be is unclear).

patrick

by bookerly at 5:59 PM on 17 Nov 2006

I am privy to the whereabouts

of an illegal privy located a hundred yards from the beach on hood canal. It is about a mile through the forest due west of my forest property. Septic systems of the people who line the shores of the sound are contributing to the problem. The government needs to find them and fine them. They also need to shut down the fish farming in the sound. I guess our politicians have bigger fish to fry.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 8:46 PM on 17 Nov 2006

Mississippi valley runoff

A lot of farmers whose runoff ends up in the Mississippi do plant too close to running water.

It's marginal land and likely to be flooded, so why do they plant there? Answer: Insurance. They put corn in the fields and collect insurance when it gets flooded. It's a huge waste. My uncle, a retired farmer, can rant for a long time about this.

by mihan at 6:42 AM on 19 Nov 2006

ADVERTISING POLICY

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