Salish Sea Science Roundtable

eDNA in the Salish Sea 05.07.2024

At May’s Roundtable, Ryan Kelly, Director of the eDNA Collaborative highlighted new and recent research using eDNA in the Salish Sea, with an emphasis on management applications. Because all living things make DNA — and DNA sequences can distinguish species from one another — the residual genetic information left behind from the living parts of an ecosystem (environmental DNA, or eDNA) is a goldmine of information for environmental management. Analyzing eDNA lets ecologists work at unprecedented resolution and scale. Within Puget Sound, researchers have used eDNA to track killer whales (Baker et al. 2018), count endangered salmon (Shelton et al. 2019), map different harmful algal species across space and time (Jacobs-Palmer et al. 2021), and track the invasion front of European Green Crab (Keller et al. 2022). Bigger-picture examples include measuring the effect of urbanization on nearshore ecosystems (Kelly et al. 2016), predicting ecological shifts in plankton as a consequence of ocean warming and acidification (Gallego et al. 2020), and commercial fisheries management at large scales (Shelton et al. 2022).

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Modeling to Strategically Manage Groundwater and Stream Flows 04.02.2024

As climate change intensifies, more frequent heatwaves, reduced snowpack, changing precipitation patterns, and other ripple effects make it increasingly complex to manage groundwater and stream flows. Our salmon, farmers, and communities rely on these essential water resources. At the roundtable, Philip Murphy and Sono Hashisaki shared an approach being developed by the Suquamish Tribe that uses the existing Kitsap Peninsula MODFLOW groundwater model and EPA’s Visualizing Ecosystem Land Management Assessments (VELMA) eco-hydrology model to estimate biomass, stream flow, and water quantity to better inform management decisions. As part of this ongoing work, they introduced initial simulations from the Big Beef Creek watershed, highlighted lessons learned, and reflected on opportunities for the region more broadly.

Slides

The Science behind evidence-based hope and strategies for countering climate doomism 03.05.2024

Elin Kelsey’s talk outlined strategies to adopt a hopeful stance in the midst of the climate crisis and the pervasive culture of doomism. Elin’s work focuses on the reciprocal relationship between humans and the rest of nature. The new science of Climate Emotions reveals that our emotions shape our reactions to the climate justice crisis in profound and complex ways. They impact the actions we take, our capacity for resilience and our psychological well-being. The sense of empowerment we feel when we engage with hope from an evidence-based stance increases our capacity for meaningful climate action.

Key resources

Cumulative effects on Southern Resident Killer Whales and contaminants of emerging concern 2.6.24

Southern Resident Killer Whales are struggling to avoid extinction. Lack of prey (i.e., Chinook salmon), noise and disturbances, and contaminants are three major stressors. Rob Williams from the Oceans Initiative shared updated population model results that explore the cumulative effect of stressors and the population’s viability under different scenarios. In parallel, the University of Washington Tacoma, Western Washington University, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Puyallup Tribe collaborated to identify priority contaminants of emerging concern present in the Salish Sea that have the potential to adversely impact exposed organisms. Andy James and Ruth Sofield shared that the initial effort focused mainly on salmonids, but the team also piloted a framework for understanding the effect of contaminants of emerging concern on Southern Resident Killer Whales.

Slides | Follow-up Resources 

Update on the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project 12.5.2023

Liz Duffy of Long Live the Kings and Isobel Pearsall of Pacific Salmon Foundation shared an update on the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project. The project was a seven-year collaborative, international research effort focused on identifying factors affecting early marine survival of Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead in the Salish Sea. The evidence from more than 90 individual studies supports the conclusion that, while no single factor is responsible, changes in food supply and an increase in predators are the primary factors driving the decline. Local factors including habitat degradation, contaminants, and disease also impact salmon health and survival, while climate change is an overarching challenge compounding these factors.

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Emerging salmon science with Fisheries and Oceans Canada 11.7.2023

The story of coho salmon in the Strait of Georgia is complex. Historically it supported a very lucrative recreational fishery. However, the fishery collapsed in the 1990s due to a combination of factors including changes in distribution as well as declines in marine survival. Chrys Neville (Fisheries & Oceans Canada) examined recent changes in trends in the coho salmon population within the strait and possible factors associated with these changes. Tanya Brown (Fisheries & Oceans Canada) then showcased the work that DFO has being carrying out in collaboration with a number of First Nations, ENGOs, Streamkeeper organizations, and other external partners to identify and characterize 6PPD-quinone toxic hotspots in salmon habitat in British Columbia, Canada.

Chrys’ Slides | Tanya’s Slides

Climate-ready fisheries & modeling 10.3.2023

Heather Welch (researcher at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center and UC Santa Cruz) discussed how modeling can potentially allow fisheries management and regulations to proactively and dynamically adapt to climate impacts. In the new paper, researchers predicted the change in habitat and by extension jurisdiction for 14 species of ecological, cultural, and commercial importance during recent heatwaves. Marine species have and will continue to move in response to climate change, irrespective of jurisdictional borders. This sort of real-time modeling can help fishers find valuable species while also avoiding endangered species like sea turtles.

Slides | Overview | Paper