Sand Verbena (Abronia latifolia).

The Fisherman Bay ecosystem is dying, says Kwiáht director Russel Barsh, and his Lopez-based conservation laboratory is mounting a scientific program to identify the problems, and begin to address them through small projects with private landowners.

Kwiáht’s initiative developed out of three years of field studies by Lopez middle school students, supported by the San Juan Nature Institute. Students measured pollution in Lopez village storm sewers and Weeks Wetland, and in sediments at the bottom of the bay. They also surveyed the bottom of the bay with the University of Washington’s robot underwater camera in April 2008, and looked at historical changes in the bay’s shorelines and circulation patterns.

Earlier this year, as part of a study of marine sediments supported by the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee, Kwiáht confirmed that the sediments in Fisherman Bay are the most contaminated in the county. “It’s not that Lopez village generates more pollution than Eastsound or Friday Harbor,” Barsh explains. “Fisherman Bay has poorer circulation, so whatever we put into it tends to stay there.”

Roads and ponds have blocked seasonal streams that once flowed into the bay, he adds, and the road to Fisherman Bay Spit acts like a dike, preventing storm tides from flushing out the bay. A large part of the shoreline is armored. Armoring acts like a sieve, allowing fine silt to pass through into the bay while holding back sand and gravel. More clearing and construction of homes increases silty runoff when it rains. As a result, the bay bottom is growing softer, and becoming a sink for pollution.

Roads themselves are significant sources of pollution. Asphalt and “seal coating” are residues from gasoline and fuel oil production; they can contain high levels of PAHs (carcinogens such as naphthalene and phenanthrene) as well as heavy metals. Brake pads are made with cadmium, and cars leak oil and coolants. Fine particles of paving material and brake dust wash into the bay like silt and can accumulate in the bay bottom.

Eelgrass meadows have disappeared from most of the bay, although there is still a very large meadow on the outside of the tombolo and the spit. Pilings and sunken debris have replaced rocks as homes for the remaining sea anemones and other attached animals in Fisherman Bay. Dungeness crabs migrate seasonally into the bay but they do not seem to be reproducing much, based on plankton tows conducted this year by Grade 6 students.

Climate change will also be evaluated.

“Another foot or two of water will drown parts of Lopez village and also some homes, and increase erosion along the roads,” Barsh notes. “Lopez village is closer to sea level than Eastsound or Friday Harbor, and needs to build and grow with that in mind.”

Kwiáht has applied to the Salmon Recovery Funding Board for research supplies, school involvement, and small-project support, and will collaborate with Beach Watchers to mobilize Lopez volunteers. Kwiáht is also eager to hear from bay-area residents and businesses willing to contribute ideas or participate in bioremediation swales, re-planting and softening shorelines, reducing pollution, and managing pond outflows.

For further information contact: Russel Barsh, RLBarsh@gmail.com