Other News
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Mar 7, 2024: DRAFT Richardson Marsh Preserve Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Dec 5, 2023: County Council Member Jane Fuller and Senator Liz Lovelett to Host Public Meeting on Lopez
Nov 3, 2023: County and Town Send Open Letter to State Officials Regarding Impacts of Poor Ferry Service
Sep 29, 2023: Conservation Land Bank Announces Special Meeting to Discuss Watmough Bay Preserve Addition
Sep 14, 2023: The mobile dental van is coming to Lopez! // ¡La camioneta dental móvil ya llega a López!
Aug 22, 2023: San Juan County Adopts 32-Hour Work Week in the Name of Fiscal Health, Recruitment, and Islander Wellness
May 25, 2023: Recap of Lopez Neighborhood Meeting Regarding the Relocation of Public Works Facilities
May 23, 2023: District 3 Councilmember Jane Fuller Opens Office on Lopez and Hosts Community Conversation
Apr 17, 2023: Give Lopez Starts April 17th - A two week fundraiser benefiting 15 Lopez Island Non-Profits
Sep 22, 2022: Interim Watmough Preserve Addition Stewardship and Management Plan Now Open for Public Comment
Opportunity to help protect and restore eelgrass, herring, and salmon
Sep 14, 2020
By Friends of the San Juans
Pacific herring - also known as forage fish - play a key role in marine food webs as food for out-migrating juvenile salmon, seabirds, and even marine mammals. Herring rely on sensitive eelgrass meadows found along our tidelands to spawn and incubate their eggs.
Herring spawning populations in the San Juans are classified by the WA Department of Fish and Wildlife as critically depressed. In San Juan County, herring only spawn at a handful of locations: West Sound and East Sound on Orcas Island; Blind Bay on Shaw Island; Wescott and Garrison Bays on San Juan Island; and Mud, Hunter, and Shoal Bays on Lopez Island.
“This is where an opportunity for some of you comes along. Do you live near one of these areas and own shoreline property or tidelands? Do you have a mooring buoy that could use an upgrade? If so, Friends of the San Juans would like to hear from you,†said Jess Newley, Friends’ Marine Science Coordinator.
The eelgrass in these herring spawning bays is so critical to salmon recovery that Friends of the San Juans has received grant funding from the WA State Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to find ways to both protect and restore it. “We are thrilled to be able to offer financial and technical assistance to landowners to evaluate, upgrade, and/or relocate outdated mooring buoys to reduce impacts to eelgrass from boating,†said Tina Whitman, Friends’ Science Director.
Tina continued, “While boating is just one of the many pressures facing the sensitive eelgrass habitats where herring spawn, there are many simple actions that can be taken to support boating and protect the marine environment.â€
Eligible activities in this voluntary program include: evaluating, upgrading and/or relocating outdated mooring buoys; removing other stressors or marine/beach debris from herring spawning habitats (derelict floats, creosote, etc.); installing ‘anchor out’ navigational buoys to mark the edge of the eelgrass growing zone; and installing new public buoys to reduce anchoring in herring spawning grounds.
If you’re an interested public or private waterfront property owner in the above herring spawning grounds please contact Friends at tina@sanjuans.org or 360-298-7616 or visit www.sanjuans.org/greenboating/ to learn more about opportunities to restore food webs for salmon and the Southern Resident orcas and support green boating.
“This is where an opportunity for some of you comes along. Do you live near one of these areas and own shoreline property or tidelands? Do you have a mooring buoy that could use an upgrade? If so, Friends of the San Juans would like to hear from you,†said Jess Newley, Friends’ Marine Science Coordinator.
The eelgrass in these herring spawning bays is so critical to salmon recovery that Friends of the San Juans has received grant funding from the WA State Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to find ways to both protect and restore it. “We are thrilled to be able to offer financial and technical assistance to landowners to evaluate, upgrade, and/or relocate outdated mooring buoys to reduce impacts to eelgrass from boating,†said Tina Whitman, Friends’ Science Director.
Tina continued, “While boating is just one of the many pressures facing the sensitive eelgrass habitats where herring spawn, there are many simple actions that can be taken to support boating and protect the marine environment.â€
Eligible activities in this voluntary program include: evaluating, upgrading and/or relocating outdated mooring buoys; removing other stressors or marine/beach debris from herring spawning habitats (derelict floats, creosote, etc.); installing ‘anchor out’ navigational buoys to mark the edge of the eelgrass growing zone; and installing new public buoys to reduce anchoring in herring spawning grounds.
If you’re an interested public or private waterfront property owner in the above herring spawning grounds please contact Friends at tina@sanjuans.org or 360-298-7616 or visit www.sanjuans.org/greenboating/ to learn more about opportunities to restore food webs for salmon and the Southern Resident orcas and support green boating.