Tribe has led seining expeditions with the Liberty Bay Foundation and volunteers from the Natural Resources classes at Northwest College of Arts, and local community volunteers on several occasions in Liberty Bay.

“Puget Sound estuarine and nearshore habitats support a rich assemblage of numerous vertebrates, invertebrates, and marine algae. This habitat is not as well understood as the terrestrial landscape, but is affected by, and modified by human land use activities. Seining for origin and distribution will give us a feel for the presence of salmonids, ESA listed and non-listed species, as well as the food forage resources, and use of the nearshore environment,” explained Paul Dorn, Suquamish Tribal Fisheries Salmon Recovery Coordinator.

On February 15 Lisa Gee of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Columbia River Research Laboratory wrote in an email to Dorn, “I was referred to you by Paul Hershberger, fish biologist at USGS - Marrowstone. The Columbia River Research Laboratory in Cook, Wash. is collaborating with Hershberger and other disciplines of the USGS in a Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound (CHIPS) project to assist with the Puget Sound Restoration Project (PSRP). PSRP was initiated by a broad-based partnership, Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership (PSNP), to address impairment of nearshore processes and habitat, specifically by identifying significant ecosystem problems, evaluating potential solutions, and restoring and preserving critical nearshore habitat.

Members of this partnership include the US Army Corps of Engineers, USGS, tribes, other federal and state agencies, the commercial sector, environmental organizations, universities and numerous local governments. Our role is to help develop scientific information to better understand the processes that affect nearshore ecosystem health and tools that facilitate optimal management of nearshore zones now and in the future as the human population continues to increase.”

The overall objective of our project is to conduct a small-scale, proof-of-concept pilot study to test the design and field methodologies for a multi-year, comprehensive future study exploring the impacts of urbanization on nearshore ecosystem processes. We will start to investigate anthropogenic impacts by conducting the study in an embayment (Liberty Bay), which was chosen rather than an exposed shoreline to maximize the likelihood of detecting urbanization effects. The study of trophic levels is necessary to identify the potential bioaccumulation of contaminants and to understand ecological processes related to biological diversity, food chain length, and sustainability.

Trophic levels will be studied from lowest to highest trophic level, including phytoplankton production, benthic and pelagic-community structure, and forage-fish abundance.

We are applying for a scientific collection permit that would enable us to sample in that area, however the ESA permit will take some time. To collect sooner than later, Paul recommended that I contact you to inquire about shadowing and assisting you on a couple of your beach seining excursions in the Liberty Bay area. The samples numbers are relatively small: N=10 of a species representing each trophic level. There’d likely be two of us: a fish biologist and a technician. Would this be amenable to you?” Gee concluded.

Dorn, Salmon Recovery Coordinator for the Suquamish Tribal Fisheries Department, welcomed the USGS to participate with the Tribe’s collaborative beach seining research as they are covered by both take permits for listed species and a collection permit from the state’s Department of Fish & Wildlife (DFW). Bainbridge Island, Liberty Bay Foundation, Kitsap County, DFW, and Stillwaters Environmental Education Center have been major partners in the Tribe’s research.

“In short, there is a wealth of information and contact persons to assist your effort,” replied Dorn.

A large percentage of Puget Sound hatchery juvenile Chinook are “marked” by clipping their adipose fin. The Suquamish Tribe releases over 3 million Chinook into East Kitsap marine waters annually and uses this mark to identify hatchery Chinook from wild Chinook (the progeny of naturally spawning adult hatchery Chinook, or progeny of listed Chinook stocks) to help assess the impact of hatchery fish on natural fish in the estuary and nearshore.

“Beach seine studies are just one component of larger management efforts. What we learn from this will guide our management decisions so that the Tribe may modify its hatchery program, if necessary, to avoid impacting listed species,” added Dorn.

“We completed a Dyes Inlet/Barker Creek estuary beach seining effort yesterday afternoon with Olympic Community College’s marine biology class and our next scheduled BI effort is all day next Thursday, Feb 23. We will be scheduling the next Liberty Bay effort in March, but a date hasn’t been selected yet,” said Dorn.

To volunteer for any of these expeditions, contact Paul Dorn at (360) 981-7658 or pdorn@suquamish.nsn.us, or the Liberty Bay Foundation at volunteer@libertybayfoundation.com or visit www.libertybayfoundation.com.