During these uncertain times, the staff of Friends of the San Juans are looking for ways to lift your spirits. And we thought that sharing some good news might bring you a smile!
Good News! New Forage Fish Spawning Beaches Found!
This winter, Friends of the San Juans staff and our team of trained citizen scientists, documented six new Pacific sand lance spawning beaches! Plus, we discovered two previously unknown surf smelt spawning sites. Coupled with results from last winter we have more than doubled the number of documented sand lance spawning beaches in San Juan County from 8 to 19. That is some good news!
Why is this such good news?
Pacific sand lance and surf smelt play an important role in local and regional marine food webs; they are critical prey for juvenile and adult Chinook salmon, seabirds, and marine mammals. Since these little fish lay their eggs on local beaches, their survival is especially vulnerable to changes on the land. When eggs are documented on a beach, that knowledge is added to WA State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife’s habitat maps which helps to guide shoreline protection and restoration efforts.
Incredible Volunteer Effort!
Winter, with its stormy weather and limited daytime low tides, is a challenging time to hunt for forage fish eggs. Winter is
also when Pacific sand lance spawn in San Juan County. So, for our second field season, Friends staff trained volunteers and students to help collect beach samples throughout the islands to look for these tiny, mighty eggs. This team of 60 dedicated citizen scientists went out in early mornings, in wind, rain, and even snow. Altogether with Friends staff, 174 different beaches on nine islands were sampled, with a total of 405 surveys conducted.
All of this dedication was worth it! New forage fish spawning sites were found on public and private beaches on Lopez, Orcas, Shaw, San Juan, and Waldron Islands. Plus, students from schools on Waldron and Decatur Islands, and Spring Street International learned about the marine ecosystem, gained new skills, and were able to use them in a real project in their community.
Thanks to everyone involved in this community-wide effort! You helped ensure that our islands’ future includes orca, salmon, forage fish, and natural beaches.
Thank you to our project partners: Salish Sea Biological and Samish Natural Resources Department. Thank you to our funders: WA State Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the WA Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This exciting project has one more field season! For more information or to get involved in next winter’s survey efforts by providing sampling access on your own beach contact [email protected] or visit: sanjuans.org/foragefish.
And for those of you who love maps…
Click here to see a preliminary map of all beaches sampled.
The Lopez Island volunteer team pictured above.
