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.
How many fish are in the Salish Sea? It’s an impossible question that drives the Puget Sound Institute’s newest senior scientist Marc Mangel.
Mangel has spent his career working on fish and fisheries issues and uses mathematical models to answer critical questions about species such as their population numbers and population health. He joins PSI this month as an affiliate professor at the University of Washington Tacoma where he will focus on a range of subjects related to species such as salmon and forage fish.
Mangel comes to PSI from the University of California, Santa Cruz where he is a Distinguished Research Professor of Mathematical Biology. For the past 30 years, he has been a leader in ocean conservation and his research has been cited by fisheries managers worldwide. He currently serves as chair of the board of directors at Fishwise and is a member of the review board of the Pacific Halibut Commission. In 2014, Mangel was a principle scientific expert in a successful lawsuit by the Australian government to stop Japanese whaling in the Antarctic. This spring, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
One of the challenges when studying the ocean — and fish in particular, Mangel says — is getting enough good field data. “We barely know how many fish we take out,” he says of fisheries catch reports and other sources. Numbers for actual fish populations are even more complicated, requiring more opaque ecological studies and plenty of math. In Puget Sound, for example, Mangel has been working with biologists on Protection Island to enlist “seabirds as samplers” as part of a long-term study counting the numbers of forage fish consumed as prey by birds such as rhinoceros auklets. “Based on that, we can infer the abundance of prey species,” he says. Other collaborations include ongoing studies of steelhead numbers with scientists at the Manchester Environmental Laboratory in Manchester, Washington.
Mangel has been a regular contributor to PSI as a visiting scholar since 2013 when he co-chaired PSI’s Forage Fish Study Group, with PSI Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis. The study group produced a set of research and management recommendations for Puget Sound’s forage fish species, including Pacific herring. Last year, Mangel and Francis were co-authors on a paper, led by University of Bergen student Gabriella Ljungström, investigating the tradeoffs faced by migrating herring between feeding, survival, and reproduction, using Puget Sound as a case study (Ljungström et al. 2018).
A recent influx of anchovies into Puget Sound may have saved some steelhead from predators, but researchers seek more evidence to prove the connection. Our series on the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project continues with a look at these and other potential impacts from predators on the region’s salmon and steelhead. Read the story in Salish Sea Currents.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Puget Sound scientist’s work is never done. PSI’s Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis sent us this e-mail about a recent call to identify some wayward fish on Vashon Island. It didn’t hurt that she happens to study the same species of fish — Pacific herring — as part of her research at PSI. By Tessa Francis Two days into the New Year I got a text at lunch from Vashon Island Nature Center staff with a picture of dozens of fish in a pool: ‘Wondering if you could tell what kind of fish these are? They seem to be trapped.’ They were in a tidal creek that had become isolated from the main Puget Sound at low tide. The staff was worried the tributary wouldn’t be reconnected at the next high tide, and were planning to manually move the small fish back to the open water. After seeing a close-up picture (and after confirming my ID with a WA Department of Fish and Wildlife colleague – better safe than sorry!), I told them they had Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) on their hands, probably 2-year olds, given the size. Historically, herring have spawned annually on Vashon Island, all along the shores of the Quartermaster Harbor bay, but their numbers have been very low in recent years. Work from a group I am co-chairing as part of the Ocean Modeling Forum suggests that when populations of herring are on average young (like these 2-year olds), they have a more difficult time finding their way back to their spawning grounds. In any case, it is just about the window of time when the Quartermaster herring start their spawning, and while it is not exactly clear whether these fish would be spawning this year (only about 1/2 of 2-year olds are mature), it was interesting to see them hanging around the island. The volunteers then moved 130 fish by hand, aiding them on their journey. If indeed these fish were making their way to the Quartermaster spawning site, they still had the circumnavigation of Maury Island ahead of them!
Read more about Puget Sound herring and other forage fish on the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound or follow some of Tessa Francis’s herring research.
Additional links: Vashon Island Nature Center
PSI’s lead ecosystem ecologist Tessa Francis is co-author of a 2017 paper linking increasing adult mortality of Puget Sound herring with regional population declines in the species. The authors report that natural mortality among herring four years and older has doubled in Puget Sound since 1973, suggesting a possible connection to declines at spawning sites near Cherry Point and Squaxin Pass. Age structure has been shifting in Puget Sound herring populations for the past 30 years, their analysis shows, which could have negative impacts on both herring and their predators. The article is published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science and is co-authored by Margaret Siple (lead author) of the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington (UW SAFS), Andrew Shelton of NOAA Fisheries, Tessa Francis of PSI, Dayv Lowry and Adam Lindquist of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Tim Essington of UW SAFS. Citation: Margaret C. Siple, Andrew O. Shelton, Tessa B. Francis, Dayv Lowry, Adam P. Lindquist, Timothy E. Essington; Contributions of adult mortality to declines of Puget Sound Pacific herring, ICES Journal of Marine Science, , fsx094, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsx094
PSI’s lead ecosystem ecologist Tessa Francis is co-author of a 2017 paper linking increasing adult mortality of Puget Sound herring with regional population declines in the species. The authors report that natural mortality among herring four years and older has doubled in Puget Sound since 1973, suggesting a possible connection to declines at spawning sites near Cherry Point and Squaxin Pass. Age structure has been shifting in Puget Sound herring populations for the past 30 years, their analysis shows, which could have negative impacts on both herring and their predators. The article is published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science and is co-authored by Margaret Siple (lead author) of the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington (UW SAFS), Andrew Shelton of NOAA Fisheries, Tessa Francis of PSI, Dayv Lowry and Adam Lindquist of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Tim Essington of UW SAFS. Citation: Margaret C. Siple, Andrew O. Shelton, Tessa B. Francis, Dayv Lowry, Adam P. Lindquist, Timothy E. Essington; Contributions of adult mortality to declines of Puget Sound Pacific herring, ICES Journal of Marine Science, , fsx094, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsx094
Pacific sand lance at rest on sand. Photo: Collin Smith, USGS.
Some of the most important fish in the Salish Sea food web are also the most mysterious. Researchers have only begun to understand how many there are, where they go, and how we can preserve their populations for the future. University of Washington researcher Margaret Siple reports on the secret lives of forage fish in the latest issue of Salish Sea Currents. Read the article in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
