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Category: Pacific herring

Toxics in Fish report cover.

New guidance for cleanup of toxics in Puget Sound

An EPA-funded team of scientists and other experts has completed draft recommendations for the future cleanup of toxic chemicals in Puget Sound. The group’s Toxics in Fish Implementation Strategy addresses pollutants such as PCBs and a slew of emerging contaminants that can affect species throughout the waterway. The strategy will be available for public review until October 16th after which it may be revised and submitted to the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council for approval.
The Washington State Department of Ecology is co-developing the strategy with the Department of Commerce and the Washington Stormwater Center. [Puget Sound Institute scientist Andy James was a member of the core team that wrote the report.] The new recommendations, if approved, will address the Puget Sound Partnership’s Toxics in Fish Vital Sign which tracks contaminants in adult and juvenile Chinook salmon, English sole and Pacific herring.
Policy discussions of toxics in fish have often centered around the occurrence of cancer-causing PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the environment, particularly as they turn up in salmon. The state has been under pressure to reduce PCB levels to meet federal water quality standards and to address healthy fish consumption rates for humans. The governor’s orca task force also identified PCBs as a serious threat to Puget Sound’s endangered southern resident orcas, which feed mostly on contaminated Chinook. While PCB reduction continues to be a high priority, the new strategy will address a much wider array of chemicals that affect wildlife across the spectrum.
Among the new concerns are contaminants known as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs).  These include pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other products that can pass through wastewater treatment plants and have biological effects on species throughout the ecosystem. The strategy recommends increased monitoring and prioritization of these contaminants to overcome what it calls “key data gaps” regarding their toxicity in Puget Sound.
EDCs may have wide-ranging effects on species. Estrogenic compounds in the water, possibly from pharmaceuticals like birth control pills, are causing male species of English sole in Puget Sound to produce egg proteins not typically seen in that sex. Scientists are looking for similar impacts on juvenile Chinook salmon and Pacific herring. Thousands of chemical compounds ranging from illicit drugs and opioids to personal care products and pesticides pass into Puget Sound waters every day. Researchers say they hope to determine which of these compounds will do the most harm to species. If the strategy is approved, this will be the first time that such contaminants will be included in the state’s Vital Sign measurements.
The strategy also addresses two additional categories of toxic chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). PAHs occur naturally in coal and crude oil and are commonly found in creosote that has been added to wood pilings or railroad ties as a wood preservative. Such chemicals can harm fish embryos in ways that mimic the effects of an oil spill. PBDEs are often used as flame retardants and can wash into Puget Sound through stormwater and wastewater or can be deposited as dust particles. Although banned from many products, PBDEs are still in circulation and can cause neurological problems in wildlife and humans. [Read more about these and other harmful “rogue chemicals” in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.] 
In addition to identifying these key concerns, the strategy proposes management solutions such as “finding and fixing toxic hotspots; incentivizing redevelopment in high loading areas to reduce toxic loading; and accelerating in-water near-water cleanup of toxics.” The report was developed as part of a series of state and federal implementation strategies designed to provide a roadmap for Puget Sound recovery efforts.
The draft strategy is available for review at the Puget Sound Partnership website.

Toxics in Fish report cover.

New guidance for cleanup of toxics in Puget Sound

An EPA-funded team of scientists and other experts has completed draft recommendations for the future cleanup of toxic chemicals in Puget Sound. The group’s Toxics in Fish Implementation Strategy addresses pollutants such as PCBs and a slew of emerging contaminants that can affect species throughout the waterway. The strategy will be available for public review until October 16th after which it may be revised and submitted to the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council for approval.
The Washington State Department of Ecology is co-developing the strategy with the Department of Commerce and the Washington Stormwater Center. [Puget Sound Institute scientist Andy James was a member of the core team that wrote the report.] The new recommendations, if approved, will address the Puget Sound Partnership’s Toxics in Fish Vital Sign which tracks contaminants in adult and juvenile Chinook salmon, English sole and Pacific herring.
Policy discussions of toxics in fish have often centered around the occurrence of cancer-causing PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the environment, particularly as they turn up in salmon. The state has been under pressure to reduce PCB levels to meet federal water quality standards and to address healthy fish consumption rates for humans. The governor’s orca task force also identified PCBs as a serious threat to Puget Sound’s endangered southern resident orcas, which feed mostly on contaminated Chinook. While PCB reduction continues to be a high priority, the new strategy will address a much wider array of chemicals that affect wildlife across the spectrum.
Among the new concerns are contaminants known as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs).  These include pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other products that can pass through wastewater treatment plants and have biological effects on species throughout the ecosystem. The strategy recommends increased monitoring and prioritization of these contaminants to overcome what it calls “key data gaps” regarding their toxicity in Puget Sound.
EDCs may have wide-ranging effects on species. Estrogenic compounds in the water, possibly from pharmaceuticals like birth control pills, are causing male species of English sole in Puget Sound to produce egg proteins not typically seen in that sex. Scientists are looking for similar impacts on juvenile Chinook salmon and Pacific herring. Thousands of chemical compounds ranging from illicit drugs and opioids to personal care products and pesticides pass into Puget Sound waters every day. Researchers say they hope to determine which of these compounds will do the most harm to species. If the strategy is approved, this will be the first time that such contaminants will be included in the state’s Vital Sign measurements.
The strategy also addresses two additional categories of toxic chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). PAHs occur naturally in coal and crude oil and are commonly found in creosote that has been added to wood pilings or railroad ties as a wood preservative. Such chemicals can harm fish embryos in ways that mimic the effects of an oil spill. PBDEs are often used as flame retardants and can wash into Puget Sound through stormwater and wastewater or can be deposited as dust particles. Although banned from many products, PBDEs are still in circulation and can cause neurological problems in wildlife and humans. [Read more about these and other harmful “rogue chemicals” in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.] 
In addition to identifying these key concerns, the strategy proposes management solutions such as “finding and fixing toxic hotspots; incentivizing redevelopment in high loading areas to reduce toxic loading; and accelerating in-water near-water cleanup of toxics.” The report was developed as part of a series of state and federal implementation strategies designed to provide a roadmap for Puget Sound recovery efforts.
The draft strategy is available for review at the Puget Sound Partnership website.

Herring fishing boats in the Strait of Georgia, BC. Photo: marneejill (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/23BepQz

Ancient harvests: A history of Salish Sea herring

If you were to ask a group of experts to make a list of culturally important foods in the Pacific Northwest, it would not be a surprise if salmon rose to the top. But researchers say Pacific herring may have at times rivaled salmon in importance in the Salish Sea. Scientists believe that herring have been a staple of Salish Sea food and culture since humans first arrived here at least 12,500 years ago. That importance has continued into modern times, even as herring numbers have declined in parts of the region. Puget Sound author and naturalist David B. Williams reports on the history of Salish Sea herring in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.

Clouds of herring milt in the water seen during spawning season near Brinnon, WA on Hood Canal, March 2019. Photo: copyright John Gussman, with permission http://www.dcproductions.com

The herring defenders

Herring numbers have been declining in Puget Sound since surveys for them began in the 1970s, but it is unclear what is causing those declines, even in the face of widespread fisheries closures. Less clear still is whether anything else can be done to stop or reverse them, and bring herring back. Our reporter Eric Wagner spent a day with a biologist spotting herring eggs and considering the future of one of our region’s most ecologically and culturally important fish species.
Read the story in Salish Sea Currents.

Puget Sound herring eggs on seaweed. Margaret Siple/University of Washington

Test your herring knowledge

By Jeff Rice
One of the first steps in protecting any species is understanding as much as you can about it. When it comes to Pacific herring in the Salish Sea, much is known but until recently many of the key scientific findings about the species had not been gathered together in a single place. A new state of the knowledge report published by the Puget Sound Institute and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is a step toward remedying that.
The report, “Assessment and Management of Salish Sea Herring” was prepared with support from a grant from the SeaDoc Society. It will be used to advance herring conservation in the region, including potential herring recovery work related to the state’s Pacific herring ‘Vital Sign’. Herring are also a critical food source for many species such as Chinook salmon, which in turn feed Puget Sound’s endangered orcas. Tessa Francis of the Puget Sound Institute and Dayv Lowry of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife were the principle investigators on the report and received input from a cross-border team from state and federal agencies, universities and area tribes.
Did you know:

  • Many herring stocks have declined in Puget Sound while herring numbers are at historic highs in the Strait of Georgia.
  • Herring stocks at Puget Sound’s Cherry Point — once one of the largest herring populations in the United States — have been the hardest hit, declining by nearly 97% over the past 40 years.
  • Sky glow: Higher intensity lighting used in shoreline areas is creating what is known as “sky glow” that reflects off the atmosphere and lights up the water’s surface, making herring more vulnerable to predators. “Increasing [artificial light at night] has created a perpetual twilight from dusk until dawn, and has reduced or eliminated the nocturnal dark refuge for feeding and migrating fishes in the Salish Sea region,” the report reads.
  • Vessel noise has been a hot topic when it comes to Puget Sound’s endangered orcas, but underwater noise may also impact other species such as herring. Scientists have observed changes in the behavior of Pacific herring’s cousin the Atlantic herring due to exposure to human-caused noise.
  • PAH’s from stormwater lead to shorter body lengths and cardiac defects among larval herring.
  • Seals and sea lions don’t just eat juvenile salmon. Increasing numbers of harbor seals in Puget Sound are suspected of impacting Chinook salmon populations, but harbor seals eat primarily Pacific herring, especially during the winter and spring.
  • Early Salish Sea tribes and first nations may have helped to cultivate herring populations by transplanting herring eggs to new locations.

To find out more about Salish Sea herring, read the full report on the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
Citation:
The Salish Sea Pacific Herring Assessment and Management Strategy Team. 2018. Assessment and Management of Pacific Herring in the Salish Sea: Conserving and Recovering a Culturally Significant and Ecologically Critical Component of the Food Web. The SeaDoc Society, Orcas Island, WA. 73 pp.

Tsleil-Waututh canoe travel in Indian Arm at DiRr-6, a massive outcrop of intrusive granodioritic rock marked with a single painting, 2014. Most rock paintings were meant to be seen in this context. Photo by Jesse Morin

Dispatches: Ancient DNA reveals ecological history

Occasionally, this space includes reports and essays from guest writers on the subject of Puget Sound ecosystem recovery. Social scientist Whitney Fleming has this dispatch on new findings that are being revealed by ancient sources. Archaeologists are looking at ancient DNA combined with oral histories to determine ecological conditions from the past. 
By Whitney Fleming
People have inhabited the waters around the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years. It is only in recently that humans have destroyed ecosystems in the Salish Sea to the point where they need fixing.
Scientists and policy makers are trying to figure out how to save these systems that have been broken by decades of overuse and unsustainable practice. It is not a simple problem because cumulative effects from human actions damage ecosystems over time. These actions are not limited to the present. They also include future impacts and the things that humans have done in the past.
Ecological restoration involves returning nature to a healthy state — to how it was before — but how do we know what that state is? How do we know what we are trying to restore?
Looking at a small inlet, just to the north of Puget Sound near Vancouver, Canada, an interesting story of ecological history has unfolded. As archeologist Dr. Jesse Morin explains, Burrard Inlet records show that as far back as 1913, shellfish beds were inaccessible and devastated because of oil spills from a nearby refinery.
It is also true that herring, a keystone species in the area, were completely gone by 1898.
In many cases, Traditional Use Studies (TUS) are used to determine pre-European arrival conditions. These are studies that use the knowledge of native peoples to determine what resources they used, and what species were present. These studies do exist in Burrard Inlet from the Tsleil-Waututh harvesting practices, but the histories are from the mid 1900s.
“Forage fish are as important as salmon, and they don’t exists here anymore.” Dr. Morin says. By the mid 1900s, “Most these species were gone, some of them were too toxic to eat, and most of the land was already taken up by industry.”
Even if oral histories and TUS studies cannot provide the information needed for restoration, the historic lives of Tsleil-Waututh people can still give the answer.
Just like humans today, the native peoples of the region used to throw things away. While plant based material has long biodegraded, some things are left behind. Remarkably well preserved in this region, the garbage of the Tsleil-Waututh remains, leaving a 3,000-year trail of history. As Dr. Morin so lovingly described his line of work “Archaeology is the science of garbage piles.”
These left-behind garbage piles create stratified layers that scientist can radiocarbon date to get a timeline of history. Importantly, this garbage contains the remains of what people ate before the ecosystem was impacted by the arrival of European settlers.
The remains of animals, including fish, birds, shellfish, and mammals are present in these important archeological finds. One pile from Burrard Inlet contained the remains of over 70 species.
These relics are the key to uncovering what the environment looked like before the European arrival. Dr. Morin is able to examine the DNA present in these samples and determine the exact species that were present during those times. Using this ancient DNA of salmonids and herring, his work unfolds a clearer picture of what the ecosystem of Burrard Inlet looked like back in time.
Through this technique that combines social science and ecology, researchers hope the past leaves a door open for restoration in the future.
Whitney Fleming is pursuing a PhD in Integrating Ecosystem Services and Human Wellbeing at Oregon State University. This article was produced as part of the 2018 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference student writers project. Funding and support was provided by the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program and the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference. 

How herring learn from their elders

Young Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) learn migration behavior by joining up with older fish, according to a new paper co-authored by Puget Sound Institute Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis. The paper, published this month in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, showed how this behavior leads to greater spatial variability in biomass, and that commercial fishing could disproportionately affect some herring populations.
Citation:
Alec D MacCall, Tessa B Francis, André E Punt, Margaret C Siple, Derek R Armitage, Jaclyn S Cleary, Sherri C Dressel, R Russ Jones, Harvey Kitka, Lynn C Lee, Phillip S Levin, Jim McIsaac, Daniel K Okamoto, Melissa Poe, Steve Reifenstuhl, Jörn O Schmidt, Andrew O Shelton, Jennifer J Silver, Thomas F Thornton, Rudi Voss, John Woodruff, Handling editor: Ken Andersen. (2018). A heuristic model of socially learned migration behaviour exhibits distinctive spatial and reproductive dynamics. ICES Journal of Marine Science. fsy091. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsy091
View the abstract. 

How herring learn from their elders

Young Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) learn migration behavior by joining up with older fish, according to a new paper co-authored by Puget Sound Institute Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis. The paper, published this month in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, showed how this behavior leads to greater spatial variability in biomass, and that commercial fishing could disproportionately affect some herring populations.
Citation:
Alec D MacCall, Tessa B Francis, André E Punt, Margaret C Siple, Derek R Armitage, Jaclyn S Cleary, Sherri C Dressel, R Russ Jones, Harvey Kitka, Lynn C Lee, Phillip S Levin, Jim McIsaac, Daniel K Okamoto, Melissa Poe, Steve Reifenstuhl, Jörn O Schmidt, Andrew O Shelton, Jennifer J Silver, Thomas F Thornton, Rudi Voss, John Woodruff, Handling editor: Ken Andersen. (2018). A heuristic model of socially learned migration behaviour exhibits distinctive spatial and reproductive dynamics. ICES Journal of Marine Science. fsy091. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsy091
View the abstract. 

A school of Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii. Photo: National Geographic Creative / Alamy Stock Photo

New Puget Sound herring research

Herring may not be the most charismatic species in Puget Sound. They don’t breach dramatically out of the water. Fish mongers don’t throw them through the air at Pike Place Market. They find their strength in numbers, schooling around by the thousands and serving as food for other creatures like seabirds, salmon and seals. But if it weren’t for these small, unsung fish, the Salish Sea might be a very different place.
Herring and other so-called forage fish — named for their role as important food (forage) for other species — are foundational to the Salish Sea food web. They are so critical that the Puget Sound Partnership has identified them as a ‘Vital Sign’ for the health of the ecosystem. And that is why many scientists are worried. Some populations of Puget Sound herring are in dangerous decline. There are also major gaps in our knowledge of their ecology and life history.
PSI’s Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis has embarked on three major research projects that could raise the profile of herring in the region. She is working with other scientists at organizations such as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to pull together what is known about Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), and to make recommendations for their conservation and management. She will also be venturing into the water to observe herring first-hand through monthly snorkel and SCUBA surveys. You can read about Tessa’s recent projects below.

Salish Sea herring assessment and conservation

Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) are an abundant and foundational species in the Salish Sea. Presently, monitoring, assessment, and management efforts treat Salish Sea herring as two separate groups: a Puget Sound herring stock, and a Strait of George herring stock. In 2017, building on her previous work to evaluate limits to Puget Sound herring recovery, Lead Ecologist Tessa Francis teamed up with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff to evaluate the state of knowledge and provide recommendations on the conservation and management of Salish Sea herring.
Francis and collaborators formed a trans-boundary technical team comprised of tribes and First Nations scientists, agency scientists, and university scientists. The team first collected leading hypotheses about the factors influencing changes in herring abundance and distribution in the Salish Sea. Those hypotheses, including shoreline development, contaminants and pollutants, food web changes were used to develop a conceptual model of Salish Sea herring, including key ecological connections and influencing factors. A public workshop was held at the Canada House of Western Washington University to review the conceptual model with additional experts from both sides of the border.
At present, Dr. Francis is developing a Qualitative Network Model, based on the conceptual model and the workshop results, which can be used to test the relative support for different hypotheses about key influences on herring abundance and distribution in the Salish Sea.
This work is funded by the SeaDoc Society and lead collaborators are Dayv Lowry, Todd Sandell, and Phil Dionne.
Final Report

Nearshore restoration effectiveness

Underwater eelgrass. Photo courtesy of Tessa Francis.
Underwater eelgrass. Photo courtesy of Tessa Francis.

In 2018 and 2019, Francis and collaborators will conduct monthly snorkel and SCUBA surveys at existing armoring removal sites, along with paired reference and armored sites, to monitor the effects of armor removal for subtidal habitats and species. This work is funded by a grant from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and conducted with lead collaborator Dr. Jameal Samhouri.

San Juan Island Herring Recovery

Puget Sound herring spawning stock biomass has been declining locally over the past 40 years, including the San Juan Island spawning populations. Salmon in the area of the San Juan Islands have been found to be particularly reliant upon herring for prey. At present, while there are many hypothesized causes of herring declines, there is little agreement on the primary cause or, therefore, the best management or policy actions for recovery. Lead Ecologist Tessa Francis is leading a 3-year effort to address this gap in understanding through 3 primary activities: (1) convene an expert elicitation workshop to evaluate key threats to San Juan Island herring; (2) quantify changes in the abundance and distribution of eelgrass used as spawning habitat for San Juan Island-spawning herring using historical data; and (3) monitor herring spawning sites to measure early-life-stage (i.e. embryonic) mortality rate.

Fig. 1. Site-scale changes in eelgrass area at herring spawning sites in Puget Sound. This project supports the analysis of these patterns in the San Juan Islands. From Shelton et al. 2017.
Fig. 1. Site-scale changes in eelgrass area at herring spawning sites in Puget Sound. This project supports the analysis of these patterns in the San Juan Islands. From Shelton et al. 2017.

In November 2017, Francis, with colleagues from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, convened an expert workshop to evaluate hypotheses about declines in herring in the Salish Sea, including the San Juan Islands. At present, Francis is developing a Qualitative Network Model to evaluate the relative support for different hypotheses about what is causing herring declines.
Habitat modeling, based upon a spatial model developed by NOAA scientist and PSI collaborator Ole Shelton, will be conducted in 2018. Field work is planned for the herring spawning season in 2019.
Funding for this project comes from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) through the Puget Sound regional allocation of PCSRF funds, PRISM project 16-1672. More information can be found here.

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