{"id":248,"date":"2017-04-28T13:49:42","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T20:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/?p=248"},"modified":"2017-04-28T15:42:19","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T22:42:19","slug":"to-save-the-shellfish-industry-water-quality-is-measured-in-a-salty-smoky-package","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/2017\/04\/28\/to-save-the-shellfish-industry-water-quality-is-measured-in-a-salty-smoky-package\/","title":{"rendered":"To save the shellfish industry, water quality is measured in a salty, smoky package"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_278\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-278\" style=\"width: 900px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-278 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_01-1024x736.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"647\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_01-1024x736.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_01-300x216.jpg 300w, https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_01-768x552.jpg 768w, https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_01.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-278\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brian Allen assembles a shell stack, or \u201cspat collector,\u201d on the porch of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund headquarters on Bainbridge Island. He\u2019s been monitoring the Olympia oyster since the early 2000s. (Micaela Rodriguez\/NextGenRadio)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>People are moving to Western Washington in droves and that\u2019s putting the Puget Sound in danger. Stormwater runoff and industrial agriculture are contributing to the pollution found in the Sound.<\/h4>\n<h4>Water standards are a moving target and funding to monitor quality is sparse. The future of the Puget Sound rests on precarious circumstances.<\/h4>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-248-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_BrianandBetsy_Master.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_BrianandBetsy_Master.mp3\">http:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_BrianandBetsy_Master.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed budget cuts are approved on Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency will lose 56 programs and 25 percent of its employees, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/energy-environment\/wp\/2017\/03\/31\/new-epa-documents-reveal-even-deeper-proposed-cuts-to-staff-and-programs\/?utm_term=.27d50c1ef1b3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to the Washington Post<\/a>. That includes slashing federal funding for Puget Sound projects by 93 percent, decreasing the budget from $28 million to $2 million.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, the Puget Sound Restoration Fund has a deadline approaching. They have dozens of shell stacks to build, simple wooden dowels each fitted with 11 carefully selected oyster shells.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt takes a little bit of work to get the right kind of oyster shell that we use for this process,&#8221; says Brian Allen, an ecologist at PSRF. &#8220;We get \u2018em cleaned up, we drill a hole in \u2018em so they can fit on our wooden dowels.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_03-300x209.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"279\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Puget Sound Restoration Fund calls this rented house on the corner of Wyatt Way and Ericksen Avenue on Bainbridge Island their headquarters.\u00a0(Micaela Rodriguez\/NextGenRadio)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>During a rare sunny moment on Bainbridge Island, he\u2019s sitting on the porch of the organization\u2019s headquarters, metal brush in gloved hands, surrounded by oyster shells dotted with black spots \u2014 leftover \u201cspat\u201d from last year, he explains, before lowering his dust mask.<\/p>\n<p>If Allen and his colleagues miss a year of measuring the number of oysters, they will have an incomplete sequence. They\u2019ve been collecting this data for three years in order to understand year-to-year oyster growth.<\/p>\n<p>Once assembled, the shell stacks are sent to partner organizations across the Puget Sound, like the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, to be deployed into the water in early summer and recovered in late August. So Allen needs to finish his stack before water temperatures are warm enough for oysters to spawn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to be able to know that what we\u2019re looking at under the microscope is from the current season,\u201d he says. When they are collected at the end of August, Allen will count new growths, or the \u201cspat,\u201d attached to the shells to compare to past years.<\/p>\n<p>Using the metal brush he scrapes until the oysters are smooth and shiny on the inside. Oysters are calcifiers; they build their shells using calcium carbonate. They like to attach to smooth surfaces, where they can become dense, layered structures \u2014 shell stacks of oysters upon oysters.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1b1uHT5bFp5-vvLDfSRobC16tjJk\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Allen is hoping to maintain the manpower to keep building, deploying and recovering shell stacks for years to come. Counting spat is the most effective way to monitor the growth of the oyster\u2019s population.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s intended not so much to be valuable information from any given year, but if you string together a decade, or two decades worth of information, that has some real ecological value,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The work can be monotonous, but it pays off in the long run.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFunding is sort of here and there for the effort,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s something that we\u2019d like to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Inside headquarters, on the top floor of a two-story weathered, white house, Betsy Peabody, one of the founders and current executive director of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, has considered the impacts of the federal cuts, too. She doesn\u2019t seem discouraged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can weather the waxing and waning of resources,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe need to make a compelling case for Puget Sound recovery, building a broad base of support, articulating why it is important, and carrying on with the important work of recovery, regardless.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_220\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-220\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-220 \" src=\"http:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_04-300x220.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_04-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_04-768x563.jpg 768w, https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_04-1024x751.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/04\/Micaela_04.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-220\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Betsy Peabody, one of the founders and current executive director of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, works in her office as shell stacks are assembled downstairs.<\/span> (Micaela Rodriguez\/NextGenRadio)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Peabody has been in the restoration game for awhile. In fact, she\u2019s got a deadline of her own approaching. PSRF is celebrating two decades of work and she\u2019s got a skirt covered in oyster shells to prove it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s our 20th anniversary bash,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe\u2019re gathering lots of people that have supported the organization over the years, and we\u2019re going to prepare a big feast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And yes, oysters will be served.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to efforts to rebuild the Olympia oyster population, PSRF has been working to restore pinto abalone, the only abalone native to Washington. They are also planting bull and sugar kelp in an attempt to mitigate the effects of ocean acidification, among other projects dedicated to reaching and maintaining state-mandated water quality standards. They are aiming to restore 10,800 acres of shellfish growing areas by 2020.<\/p>\n<p>After the party, it\u2019s back to shell stacking. Peabody is hopeful, but realistic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is one of those recovery goals where you make two steps forward and one step back,\u201d she says. \u201cYou never achieve an upgrade of a shellfish growing area and have it become a permanent thing. There\u2019s no such thing as permanence in the water quality game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The president\u2019s proposed budget cuts could impact environmental groups\u2019 initiatives to improve water quality. But in Washington state, they\u2019re not stopping.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":318,"featured_media":278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/318"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seattle2017.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}