The Puget Sound watershed is home to some of the most rugged and beautiful shoreline in the world. The protected marine waters of the Sound provide invaluable habitat for fish and wildlife. The region also supports one of the leading trade centers on the West Coast of North America and is a gateway to some of the continent's busiest ports. All of these factors have led to booming economic growth, and ever-increasing numbers of people moving to live and work around Puget Sound. In 1999, the Puget Sound basin was home to nearly 3.9 million people-double the population of the mid- I 960s. Puget Sound's population is now growing by about 50,000 people per year (1.5 percent per year) and is expected to reach 5 million people before 2020. Along with this kind of growth comes increased stress on Puget Sound. In this lesson we will discuss the health of Puget Sound through some key environmental indicators, and then in light of the findings discuss their multiple causation’s and what can be done about them.

The health of a marine environment can not be determined by any single factor, it is only by viewing a large series of environmental indicators that a broad statement about the sound can be made. Environmental Scientists study these indicators and they compile their findings to answer larger questions about the environmental trends in the sound.

The physical character of the Puget Sound environment-including its landforms, currents and climate determine the fundamental character of the Puget Sound ecosystem. Ideally water percolates through and runs off the land, gathering in streams, rivers, and underground aquifers, to deliver sediments, nutrients, and woody debris to the Sound where they become important components of the ecosystem. Unfortunately, due to development, along with these nutrients come many of the contaminates in and on the land. Human activity can also change the shape and location of water flow into the sound, thus further disrupting the environment. Examples of this include, channelizing streams, filling wetlands and floodplains, and cutting forest adjacent to streams. All of these acts damage the process of water and therefor the delivery of sediments and nutrients to the Sound. Similar effects can also be seen when the shorelines are "hardened" by bulkheads, or the dredging and filling of tidal river deltas.

Human and animal wastes carry pathogenic organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, and are also rich in nutrients. Although pathogens and nutrients are natural components of the Puget Sound ecosystem, human development, industrialization and population of watersheds and shorelines increases loading of these materials into the waters of the Puget Sound basin. Where these increased loadings occur, pathogens and nutrients exist in such high concentrations that they effectively become contaminants that can cause significant water quality problems. This is often referred to as Eutrophication, or the release of excess nutrients into coastal waters. Fertilizers are a main cause of eutrophication. They are used on land and then are washed into the ocean via rivers and streams. There they cause high nutrient concentrations that lead to phytoplankton blooms such as, red tides and various yellow and green foams, slimes, and slicks. Although algae blooms are natural, a higher frequency of their occurrence in the past twenty years indicates an unhealthy ecosystem. The toxicity of recent blooms are increasing, which can have a direct effect on the organisms that feed on them.

Human activities introduce toxic contaminants, including organic compounds and metals, to the Puget Sound environment. Some toxic substances, notably metals and hydrocarbons, occur naturally but become concentrated in the enviroment through human activities. Some of the sources of toxic contaminant input to Puget Sound include: storm water runoff from urban areas; discharges of municipal and industrial wastewater; spills from vessels and shoreline and upland properties; pesticide runoff from agricultural, residential and park lands; agricultural applications of pesticides; leaching of contaminants from shoreline structures (preservatives from pilings) and vessels; channel dredging and dredged material disposal; and atmospheric deposition of air pollutants.

Many of these pollutants, whether they enter through spills, wastewater discharges or storm water runoff, will bind to sediment particles. Therefor as sediments settle out on the sea floor they can cause accumulations of Contamination. Areas of contaminated sediment can harm marine life that lives or feeds there.

The effects of an oil spill on a marine environment can be devastating. The extent of the devastation, however, it determined be a multitude of factors such as the amount and type of oil, the salinity of the water and the type of shoreline where the oil reaches land. Many techniques have been developed to clean up oil spill, but none of the measures are very effective, especially once the oil has reached the beach. In many cases beach cleanup after an oil spill can be more harmful than the actual spill. An example of this being the pressure washing of rocks reached by a large crude oil spill. This wash will essentially kill any organisms that did survive the spill.

How is the quality of Water for Recreation?

Through recreational activities such as paddling, fishing, and swimming people come in direct contact with the water. If this water is contaminated people risk contracting water-born diseases associated with human and animal waste. For this reason the state has set standards of acceptable bacteria levels. These standards are based on fecal conform counts. Fecal coliforin bacteria is used to indicate the presence of human or animal wastes and the possible presence of disease-causing organisms.

Status: More than half of the Puget Sound river stations monitors routinely for fecal coliform violate the state standards, for a total of 235 contaminated water bodies.

Are Areas where shellfish can be safely harvested increasing or decreasing?

The health of bivalve shellfish is directly related to the water in which they live. As filter feeders they can accumulate bacteria, viruses, and other contaminants from the water in which they live. These accumulated contaminants can then be to those who eat the shellfish. Due to this risk the State Health department classifies shellfish-growing areas in an effort to keep the shellfish that arrive in restaurants and grocery stores safe. Environmental scientists can then use the area of harvestable shellfish beach as an indicator of marine health.

Status: Historically it has been safe to harvest shellfish throughout the sound, but due to the growing population and development of the area, the number of areas suitable for harvest has been greatly reduced. Commercial shellfish acreage in Puget Sound, as measured over the past 20 years, totals approximately 140,000 acres. In the last ten years one quarter of the area available for commercial harvest has been downgraded in classification. And in approximately one sixteenth of the area shellfish harvestation is completely prohibited.

Is there an alarming presence of aquatic nuisance species?

Nuisance species are species of wildlife and plants that have been unnaturally introduced to an environment. These new species begin to compete with existing species for the habitat, and eventually because they lack a predator take over. This disrupts the food chain and becomes a threat to biodiviersity all to the detriment of the ecosystem. Nuisance species found in Puget Sound include the green crab and mitten crab, and an invasive grass species called Spartina.

Status: Spartina, also known as cord grass, can be found throughout the Puget Sound area, but as a trend the overall acreage is decreasing due to the work of many local, state, and volunteer agencies. The sightings of green and mitten crab are relatively small, meaning that a population has not taken root.

Is the area of contaminated sediments increasing or decreasing?

Puget Sound contains 1.8 million acres of submerged marine beds and tidelands, and a very large portion of the total area is being effected by toxic-contaminants.

Status: Sufficient data has been collected to characterize more that 15,000 acres of urban sediment. From this data it was found that thirty-eight percent of this area, 5,750 acres was contaminated above the state's sediment quality standards. Eighty-six percent of these 5,750 acres were classified as contaminated to the extent that cleanup was required by both state and federal cleanup laws. A trend is difficult to discern however because the number of areas cataloged by scientists is increasing each year at the same time that individual sites contamination is generally improving.

Is toxic contamination in Puget Sound increasing or decreasing?

The levels of toxic contamination easily accumulate in the organisms living in the environment. scientists often use mussels and harbor seals as test subjects for contaminate levels.

Status: Mussels filter large quantities of water and in the process accumulate whatever contaminants are present in the water. Through the monitoring of mussels scientists have found huge concentrations of PAH's (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and many other toxins such as nickel, lead, and butyl tins, which are used in paints. Scientists that monitor harbor seals measure the levels of contaminants in samples of the seal's blubber. From these samples small but still significant amounts of copper, DDT, PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyl’s) and mercury could be detected. As a trend however these toxic contaminants appear to be decreasing.

Are the size and Frequency of oil spills increasing or decreasing?

Washington is one of the country's leading petroleum refining centers. Large amounts of crude oil and petroleum products enter and leave the basin via tankers, barges and pipelines. In addition, about 28 ocean-going commercial cargo vessels transit the Strait of Juan de Fuca daily. These vessels can each carry up to two million gallons of heavy fuel oil.

Status: The volume and number of major spills has remained relatively low since 1992, with the exception of the 277,000-pilon Olympic Pipeline spill in Bellingham last year. Between 1985 and 1999, 18 major spills from facilities, pipelines, vessels and barges released over 2.8 million gallons of oil to the waters and land of the Puget Sound basin. More than one-half of this volume was released in eight spills that occurred in 1990 and 1991. Only four spills of 10,000 gallons or more occurred from 1992 to 1999. Since 1985, shore-based facilities accounted for 52 percent of the oil spilled in major incidents (10,000 or more gallons). The remaining 48 percent of oil released in major spills was

relatively evenly split between spills from pipelines (26 percent) and vessels and barges (23 percent). Heavy fuel oil and crude oil are the materials most commonly spilled in major incidents.

Is fish and wildlife habitat increasing or decreasing?

Human development significantly alters the Puget Sound environment, often causing changes that reduce the quantity and quality of the diverse habitats used by the Sound's fish and wildlife. Habitats at risk from direct human alteration include freshwater habitat for salmon and other fish, and Puget Sound's fringe of shallow subtidal, intertidal and shoreline habitats known as the marine "nearshore." The Sound's marine water habitats are also threatened by water quality degradation

Status: More than 50 percent of the estuarine wetland habitat in the Puget Sound has been dredged or filled since 1850. Approximately one-third of Puget Sound's shoreline has been altered by human development of port facilities, piers, bulkheads and other shoreline armoring structures. These findings indicate that people have dramatically changed the nearshore environment, eliminating or degrading many habitats. In addition approximately eleven percent of the freshwater stream habitat for salmon and steelhead species and about two percent of the lake and wetland habitat has been blocked by culverts. This is a trend that has to be addressed and remedied if we hope to keep salmon and steelhead species at sustainable levels.

Puget Sound is home to over 220 species of fish, 26 different kinds of marine mammals, 100 species of sea birds and thousands of species of marine invertebrates. Some fish and wildlife populations are increasing, while others are decreasing.

Status: Pacific salmon and a number of marine fish species in Puget Sound are in peril. In 1999, Chinook salmon in Puget Sound and summer chum salmon in Hood Canal were listed as "threatened" species under the federal Endangered Species Act. In early 2000, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is expected to complete a review of the status of seven Puget Sound marine fish: Pacific herring, Pacific cod, Pacific hake, walleye pollock and three species of rockfish. Based on this review, the NMFS may propose listing these species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Some other species that can be used as indicators of the diversity of Puget Sound wildlife include, harbor seals, scoters, rockfish, pacific herring and wild coho salmon.

• Harbor seals- The population of harbor seals has be growing since the 1970's, some evidence suggests that these numbers are now beginning to level off. These increasing numbers may be the result of, protection from bounties or harvest by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, considerable abundance of food resources. protection of pupping sites, and decrease in predator population.

• Scoters- Scoter are the most abundant diving duck in Puget Sound. The number of scoters in Puget Sound in the 1990's is between forty and seventy percent lower than numbers observed in the 1970's. This decrease could be the result of degraded environment. Lack of nutritious prey resulting in malnutrition, or natural environmental cycles.
• Pacific Herring- The population of herring has greatly decreased since 1975. This overall decline is largely attributed to the poor condition of the Cherry Point stock, which declined from a high of 15,000 tons to a low of 1,200 tons between 1973 and 1999 for a 92% decrease. This decrease is thought to be due to changing predation by harbor seals and Pacific hake, alteration of critical nearshore habitat, especially in eelgrass beds, and possibly changing water conditions such as varying temperatures.

• Rockfish- Spawning levels have declined approximately 75% from levels seen in the 1970's. This is considered by Fisheries as a serious sign of stress. This decline is attributed to over harvesting of the population.

• Coho Salmon- Historically, about 24 percent of the coho that entered Puget Sound survived the marine portion of their life cycle to return to their spawning stream. Recent survival rates are much lower, reaching as low as one percent for coho returning to the Deschutes River in 1998. Each year the marine survival rate of Puget Sound stock coho salmon is decreasing by an average of I 0%. This why many activists are pushing to have the coho listed on the endangered species list.