RESTORATION NEWS SPRING 2014

New ShellfiSh ReStoRatioN hatcheRy PoiSed to oPeRate Since December 2011, the National and Washington Shellfish Initiatives have bestowed a multitude of gifts – all in the name of enhancing shellfish resources here in Washington State. High on the list is a new, state-of-the-art Shellfish Hatchery and Research Laboratory, now located at NOAA’s Manchester Research Station. Beginning this year, against a backdrop of changing seawater conditions, PSRF will practice the art and science of producing genetically diverse Olympia oyster seed and other living marine resources. “The intent from the beginning of this effort two years ago was to support PSRF work on Olympia oyster restoration,” according to Walton Dickhoff at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Within the field of “Restoration Aquaculture,” PSRF works to restore iconic food resources, habitat builders, and ecosystem services. Olympia oysters, Pinto abalone and Bull kelp are all examples of native species that provide habitat and/or ecosystem services and that, at one time or another, have also represented iconic food resources or habitat types. Recovering each of these species and habitats requires some degree of hatchery propagation – hence the term “Restoration Aquaculture,” and hence the need for this new shellfish restoration hatchery. Supporters of the new hatchery are legion. NOAA Aquaculture and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center have led the charge, with Washington Departments of Ecology, Natural Resources and Fish & Wildlife all contributing substantially to the cause. Others giving a big lift to Olympia oyster seed production include USDA, Washington Conservation Corps, and the Governor’s office.

OUR MISSION: Restore marine habitat, water quality and native species in Puget Sound through tangible, on-the-ground projects.

Founded in 1997, PSRF is a Washington - based non-profit organization committed to a vision of a clean and healthy Sound that is full of life and capable of sustaining us.

206.780.6947 www.restorationfund.org Ecology’s Washington Conservation Corps crew hard at work constructing

the hatchery greenhouse

w w w . r e s t o r a t i o n f u n d . o r g

alcoa, 3M & whatcoM coMMuNity fouNdatioN helP Pilot oa cuRRicula iN SchoolS A $70,000 Alcoa Foundation grant and an additional $20,000 from Whatcom Community Foundation will help expand the Garden of the Salish Sea Curriculum, a novel environmental science program pioneered by Julie Hirsch in 2012. The program will reach over 800 elementary school kids and 100 community members in Whatcom County over the next two years. Twenty teachers and community educators around the North Sound were trained in the program and web resources in January at the Storming the Sound conference. The Garden of the Salish Sea program combines an on-line curriculum and pledge program with experiences in the field and scientific inquiry in order to teach school-age kids about the actions they and their families can take to maintain healthy shellfish resources amid changing ocean conditions. A $41,010 3M Eco Grant will bring ocean acidification to STEM students at Bainbridge High School. Field excursions to PSRF’s Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm, shellfish restoration hatchery, and nearby Olympia oyster restoration sites will provide a real-world laboratory for showing students how ocean acidification affects local shellfish resources, and how that might affect the health of local waters in the future. Collaborators include Bainbridge Island School District’s STEM program, the Suquamish Tribe, Washington Sea Grant, Washington State science teachers, the University of Washington and NOAA.

Elementary school kids in Whatcom County immersed in the gardens of the Salish Sea Project

libeRty bay declaRed a SucceSS It has long been our goal to restore native oyster habitat in the lower intertidal in order to benefit multiple fish and invertebrate species. A structured oyster bed, after all, is a means for rebuilding species diversity and ecosystem health in the 19 inlets designated as native oyster priorities by Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW). Liberty Bay has been the focus of considerable effort in recent years. With funding from NOAA, The Nature Conservancy, USDA, and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, PSRF spread shell 2005-2011 across almost 20 acres of tideflats in Liberty Bay to provide settlement structure for native oyster larvae. The Suquamish Tribe, WDFW, Washington Department of Natural Resources, private tideland owners, Hood Canal Oyster Co., and the US Navy have been longstanding partners in these efforts. According to Brady Blake with WDFW, “the Liberty Bay project provides the model for continued native oyster restoration

in Washington State. Extensive monitoring has shown that remnant native oysters in the bay have rapidly re-colonized the restored shell-base exhibiting significant reproductive success, survival, increased abundance with multiple year classes, and colonization of new habitat.

Based on these observations, the results of focused native oyster restoration efforts in Liberty Bay are considered a success, as measured by WDFW’s 2012 updated plan for rebuilding Olympia oyster populations in Puget Sound.” We can now turn our attention to new sites, and let the oysters in Liberty Bay take care of themselves.

“The LiberTy bay projecT provides The modeL for conTinued

naTive oysTer resToraTion in

WashingTon sTaTe” - brady bLake, WdfW

Liberty Bay enhancement site overview 2014Multiple year classes of Olympias on Pacific

oyster cultch

ablaloNe Natural populations of the Pinto abalone, the Salish Sea’s only native abalone, are in dire need of conservation. Puget Sound Restoration Fund strives to understand the ecology of this charismatic marine mollusk, combat its decline and ultimately rebuild sustainable populations here in Washington waters. Pinto abalone throughout their range may find much needed safeguards in the coming year. In 2013, the National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), received two separate petitions to list pinto abalone under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and designate critical habitat to support pinto abalone recovery. NOAA is conducting a 12-month status review to

determine how pinto abalone may receive protection under the ESA. Puget Sound Restoration Fund is working collaberativly with WDFW, UW, NOAA, Shannon Point Marine Center and others to develop recovery strategies and a Recovery Plan for Pinto Abalone in Washington State. This comprehensive document includes information on the biology, ecology and decline of the species followed by a detailed outline of research and recovery needs and current restoration strategies already underway. Check out the Recovery Plan on the abalone page of the PSRF website. Enormous thanks to Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, Washington Department of Natural Resources, and NOAA Species of Concern Program for new and ongoing funding.

bull KelP ReStoRatioN With the accumulation of research about the direct links between canopy kelp habitat and rockfish, bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) restoration has been identified as a recovery action by the Puget Sound NOAA Rockfish Recovery Workgroup. To assist with that, PSRF has been identified as a restoration contractor in NOAA’s Rockfish Recovery Plan due out later this year. In the meantime, we are working diligently to develop restoration practices that will enable the natural recruitment of Nereocystis and, through scaled or repeated treatments, facilitate the persistence of re-introduced canopy kelp in historic areas. PSRF is currently pursuing funding to support kelp experiments at the Manchester Shellfish Hatchery and Laboratory that will examine how the early (microscopic) life history forms of this kelp behave in the wild. We expect this research to shed considerable light on when and how restoration enhancements should proceed. This April, PSRF will also be hosting a session on Kelp Restoration at the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference in Seattle, which will feature PSRF R&D on canopy kelp habitat restoration and the expanding citizen science program, KELPWATCH.

PSP MoNitoRiNg PRogRaM uPdate With warmer weather coming soon, PSRF’s Volunteer based PSP monitoring program will be in full swing as vigilant volunteers collect samples at 22 sites in Puget Sound. Shellfish samples are sent to DOH to better assist in water quality classifications. We are also currently setting up a new testing site on San Juan Island’s Cattle Point to help in early detection of PSP entering the Puget Sound. Thanks to the many volunteer samplers out there who take time out of their lives to play an active role in the fight for water quality.

One of Betsy Peabody’s pressings of bull kelp

PSRF staff and volunteers install a pilot-scale juvenile aba-lone field nursery from a dock in the San Juan Islands

SPRING 2013

RESTORATION NEWS SPRING 2014

coMMuNity ShellfiSh faRM highlightSdRaytoN haRboR’S ReiNveNtioN StoRy - BIG News: In 2014, the Drayton Harbor farm will transition to a for-profit business called Drayton Harbor Oyster Company LLC. Enticing a commercial venture back to Drayton Harbor has been a long-held dream dating back to 1999 when Geoff Menzies and PSRF first launched the community oyster farm to spur water quality improvements and invest the community in the health of the bay. Our goal – then and now – was to restore commercial, recreational and tribal harvest. Lo these 15 years later, a commercial venture is taking the plunge and we are cheering them on. The farm will be owned and operated by Steve and Mark Seymour, a family with a 25-year history of oyster farming in Drayton Harbor, Chuckanut and Lummi Bays. Steve has managed the Drayton Community farm for PSRF this past year.

Moving forward, CSA members will continue to be lovingly served as the farm expands local and overseas sales. PSRF and the new farm will also continue partnering on Olympia oyster restoration, the Garden of the Salish Sea school program, and aquaculture programs at Bellingham Technical College in order to create opportunities for students and others to get up close and personnel (a.k.a. wet and muddy) with Drayton oysters. On the water quality front, farm staff continue to work with Washington Department of Health (DOH) and Whatcom County to improve our understanding of how pollution circulates through the bay. Broad coverage by local news and KING TV helped highlight water quality and efforts over the past twenty years by PSRF and Geoff Menzies to preserve the harbor’s long oyster farming history.

PoRt MadiSoN - PSRF celebrated another successful season of tending, harvesting and slurping at the Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm in 2013. Our faithful Community Supported Aquaculture group continues to grow, with almost 60 loyal oyster lovers purchasing a CSA membership last year and enjoying tasty monthly shares. This support goes a long way toward protecting the clean shorelines necessary for producing our delicious product. The PMCSF harvested more than 800 dozen oysters in 2013 for our CSA, local restaurants and special events. We served up our oysters at the Bainbridge Island Art Museum grand opening, the Bloedel Garden Party and the Grand Old Fourth of July Festivities as well as partnering with the Harbour Public House and Bainbridge Organic Distillers on special events. 90 volunteers contributed 269 hours of work during seeding, maintenance and harvest events in 2013! Anticipation is building for the 2014 harvest season and memberships are available now. Visit the PMCSF page of the PSRF website to sign up for this year’s CSA.

heNdeRSoN iNlet - We continue to supply our “most beautiful” oysters to Elliott’s Oyster House in Seattle and Dockside Bistro and Wine Bar in Olympia. Henderson Inlet Pacifics are also now available at the PSRF Farmstand, located at George and Son’s Produce Market in East Olympia every Thursday afternoon. The Farmstand provides an additional pickup point for PSRF’s Oyster Give-A-Way Program, which invites watershed residents to receive a free dozen oysters when they inspect and maintain their septic systems. Also in high gear are student and neighborhood tideland tours, oyster gardening workshops and volunteer farm work parties. We hope to see you south sounders at the Henderson Farm soon! With the success of clean water efforts in the Henderson Inlet Watershed, and longstanding support from Thurston Conservation District and the County, PSRF is now extending community outreach programs to the Nisqually Reach. This is thanks to a new partnership with National Fish and Oyster Company, a multi generational oyster farm run by the Buldis family that has been in business on the Nisqually flats since 1939. Other partners include Nisqually Reach Nature Center and South Sound Green.

A Drayton Gold luring investment from a new commercial venture

PMCSF Manager Josh Bouma leads harvest party with CSA members on Bainbridge Island

Derek King running the oyster farmstand in Olympia, featuring Henderson Inlet Pacifics

w w w . r e s t o r a t i o n f u n d . o r g

RESTORATION NEWS SPRING 2014

PSRF staff and volunteers finish spreading Oly seed for enhancement study in Padilla Bay

Native oySteR StocK RebuildiNg Recent strides on the Oly front include collaborations with The Nature Conservancy and NOAA to lay the groundwork for larger scale native oyster restoration in Puget Sound, and an updated WDFW Olympia oyster Stock Rebuilding Plan that has helped us target priority restoration sites of historic abundance. As we expand the scope of these efforts, PSRF continues to examine the efficacy of enhancement practices. For instance, we are analyzing the correlation between shell applications, the resulting emergent habitat volume, and oyster density at previous restoration sites in order to make the best use of limited shell resources for Olympia oyster habitat projects. Population genetic structure for native oysters has also been a priority research initiative. Understanding how the different stocks of oysters in Puget Sound are related, or not, has substantial influence on our conservation breeding program and how we strategically approach stock rebuilding. Genetic analysis brought significant clarity to our understanding of stock structure between the major basins of Puget Sound. In 2013 we took this a step further and collaborated with researchers at University of Washington Tacoma and Pacific Lutheran University to investigate stock structure within a specific inlet (Fidalgo Bay), using cutting edge qPCR technology. The effort continues to assess ecosystem services within natural and restored native oyster beds, such as 1) filtration; 2) epibenthic invertebrate prey production; and 3) fish utilization. USDA, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Swinomish Tribe and the Northwest Straits Commission continue to support on-the-ground enhancements to help us meet a goal of restoring 100 acres of native oyster beds by 2020. Finally, large-scale efforts are on the horizon in Kitsap County (Dyes and Sinclair Inlet) thanks to the many private tideland owners who have generously signed up – and who are now waiting patiently for action.

Jennifer Ruesink and Alex Lowe with UW monitoring the Belfair Olympia Oyster Eelgrass Project

John Sundsten, a retired UW anatomy professor, and his grandson enjoy working in

the mud at Belfair

PoRt gaMble bay Native oySteR ReStoRatioN Washington Department of Ecology has stepped in to fund a large-scale, 10-acre native oyster restoration project in Port Gamble Bay that will hit the ground running in 2014. To help rebuild an historic habitat feature, PSRF will spread an underlayer of shell in the lower intertidal and produce genetically diverse seed for outplant. Experience at other sites indicates significantly greater oyster recruitment occurs in areas with both shell and live oysters, thus seed will be spread over and within the shell enhancement areas to kick-start re-colonization. Olympia oyster beds are among the resources and habitats that have defined

Port Gamble Bay throughout its long and rich history. Historic records document the existence of commercial densities of native oysters in Port Gamble Bay in 1864. In spring 2011, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and PSRF found remnant oysters scattered sparsely along much of the shoreline in lower elevations. Based on historic abundance and remnant oyster presence, WDFW identified Port Gamble Bay as one of 19 priority areas for restoration in a 2012 updated Olympia oyster rebuilding plan.

A wonderful and complex choreography involving many partners led to this project. In addition to the parties mentioned above, our thanks go to the shoreline property owners who granted access to tideland parcels, Olympic Property Group, Washington Department of Natural Resources, The Russell Family Foundation (an early investor in Port Gamble Bay restoration), NOAA for building a hatchery devoted to native oyster seed production, and Washington Conservation Corps for jumping in to assist with hatchery construction.

w w w . r e s t o -

PSRf’S heNdeRSoN oySteR wiNS 2013 MoSt beautiful oySteR coNteSt On a night that will likely go down in history, at least for Brian Allen and Derek King, managers of our Henderson Inlet Community Shellfish Farm, PSRF’s Henderson oyster won the prized and heavily contested “Most Beautiful Oyster Contest” at the 2013 Oyster New Year event at Elliott’s Oyster House. Amid the roar of the 1200 or so people happily slurping 36,000 oysters in a single night, we hoisted away our absurdly large trophy. We are proud to serve up our community-grown oysters at the Oyster New Year event, alongside the producers of the Northwest’s finest oysters and wines. Thanks to the growers, one and all, who share their bounty at Oyster New Year and many other events, and showcase the importance of clean oysters and a healthy, productive Puget Sound. And thanks to Elliott’s for hosting this annual event as a benefit for PSRF.

walRuS & caRPeNteR PicNicS with tayloR ShellfiSh At night, by lantern, on a dazzlingly productive beach in the South Sound, Taylor Shellfish and oyster marketing wizard Jon Rowley conjured two Walrus & Carpenter picnics this past winter as a benefit for Puget Sound Restoration Fund. A throng of picnickers enjoyed this over-the-top celebration of perfectly fresh oysters in grand fashion. Just like the oysters in Lewis Carroll’s poem, we were enticed onto the beach for “a pleasant walk, a pleasant talk, along the briny beach.” Happily, in our case, we escaped alive and plump full of oysters fresh off the beach, steaming bowls of Xinh Dwelley’s oyster stew, and a generous pouring of award-winning wines, served in crystal stemware, of course. Thanks so much to the picnickers for purchasing tickets, to Elliott’s Oyster House for providing appetizers, to Cedargreen, Chateau St. Michelle and Geyser Peak for award-winning wines, and to Taylor for generously sharing this experience with us. We doff our hats to all – and happily slurp down the bounty.

PSRf iS PleaSed to aNNouNce JohaNSSoN-claRK Real eState aS a 2014 SPoNSoR of the Port Madison Community Shellfish Farm. Johansson-Clark has a philosophy of “island living,” which complements PSRF’s vision of a clean and healthy Sound that is full of life and capable of sustaining us. Re-connecting people on Bainbridge Island with harvest opportunities provides an incentive for clean water efforts.

590 Madison avenue north

BainBridge island, wa 98110 Puget SoundRestoRation Fund

206.780.6947 www.restorationfund.org

iN thaNKS

A grateful bow to all those who sent generous contributions to Puget Sound Restoration Fund’s Annual Fund Drive, the One Call For All fundraising campaign on Bainbridge Island, and the Give BIG campaign, deftly administered by The Seattle Foundation. Heaps of thanks also to the 80 people who attended PSRF’s September 27, 2013 Seafood Extravaganza at Kiana Lodge. Highlights included a traditional clam bake, fresh oysters, an array of auction and gift items featuring the resources we are working to restore, generous sponsorships from Plauche and Carr, Taylor Shellfish, Puget Sound Pilots, the Suquamish Tribe, ESA, Argosy Cruises, Joth Davis, and Carl and Jude Mundt, not to mention decorative wizardry by Anne Air. PSRF remains fleet of foot and open to new opportunities by virtue of the underlying support we receive from the community!

Revelers at PSRF’s seafood extravaganza

Fresh oysters, delightful wine, and happy picnickers illuminated by lantern on Totten

Inlet