Marine Science Center Finds 5.8 Tons of Plastic on Salish Sea Beaches

The following is a guest post by former Port Townsend Marine Science Center Executive Director, Anne Murphy. She tells the story of the Plastics Project from its earliest days and emphasizes that without dedication and hard work of our volunteers, this timely study of plastics pollution in the Salish Sea would not have been possible:

It was around 2006 when I first I heard about the “garbage patch” in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It brought up the question that would fuel our research:

If that much plastic is floating out in the Pacific Ocean, how much is here in our local marine waters and on our beaches? 

With the help of Marcus Eriksen* of Algalita Marine Research Foundation, PTMSC conducted some exploratory beach sampling trials at home in rural Jefferson County and in urbanized King County. Our trials focused on sampling sandy beaches for small bits of plastic called microplastic, a size that beach clean up efforts generally miss and a size that commonly enters the food web through ingestion by birds and fish. (*Marcus Eriksen is now with 5 Gyres Institute.)

We found microplastic in our trials. We conducted more trials on new beaches, this time looking for a pattern in microplastic distribution along the length of drift cells. Again we found microplastics, but no pattern emerged within drift cells. Sampling by drift cell proved to be more complicated than our original approach. By this time, I was convinced that we wanted to develop a sampling plan that could be easily learned and replicated by volunteers throughout the region.

We secured funding to conduct a three-year study that we hoped would provide a baseline estimate of how much microplastic was on WA Salish Sea beaches. (Thanks to our major funders: WA DOE’s PPG Program and Foss Maritime.) In Year 1 we recruited and trained volunteer groups in 7 counties. In Year 2 we expanded to include volunteer groups and partnering institutions in all 12 Washington Salish Sea counties.

Enthusiasm, support, and interest remained high throughout the three-year project duration. When the project ended, many volunteers were motivated to share what they’d learned about plastic debris accumulating on their beaches and the associated impacts to marine ecosystem health. In many cases, volunteers chose to engage at a deeper level as partners in conservation. Examples of their actions included creating a plastic bottle reduction campaign, working with local municipalities to ban the distribution of plastic bags, offering awareness-building programs in schools to help youth think about their choices and alternatives to single-use plastics, leading beach clean-ups, and more.

After the project ended, PTMSC received repeated queries about starting up again. It was a very popular citizen science project. Public awareness about plastic pollution in the ocean had grown so much by 2011 that people wanted to be part of a solution.

After three years of sampling, PTMSC’s next hurdle was to find a statistician to analyze and interpret the data so that we could share our findings. We dreamed of writing an article for submission to Marine Pollution Bulletin about this research, but who had the time while working full time? It was after I retired from my position as executive director that a window of opportunity opened.

I met Wally Davis, a retired biologist/statistician from Snohomish County who was conducting his own research on plastics in surface water. We conversed about our research and stayed in touch. It was Davis’s idea to jointly write an article on the two studies. He pointed out that they overlapped in time and space and provided complimentary views of plastics in the environment. And, Davis loved crunching data. Murphy readily agreed. The PTMSC is eternally grateful to Davis for stepping in and running with this joint project.

It is important to note that a project of this regional scale could not have happened without partners in the 12 counties where sampling occurred. Each partner group helped PTMSC recruit and train volunteer citizen scientists. Many volunteers stuck with the project from start to finish while others joined or left at various points in the project. We conservatively estimate that over 600 citizen scientists contributed over 4313 hours to acquire our data. PTMSC again thanks our partners in this project and is pleased to share our article with them. We simply could not have done this work without their assistance.

—

ANNE MURPHY is the retired executive director of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center and co-author of the article, “Plastic in surface waters of the Inside Passage and beaches of the Salish Sea in Washington State.”  The article, as published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, is accessible for free until September 30, 2015. After that time, you may contact the Port Townsend Marine Science Center for access to the paper.

Live link until September 30, 2015: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X15003860

Citizen Science Report - Spring 2015

Rain, rain! Please don’t go away!

With a timely rain storm, PTMSC volunteers completed our roof runoff study in November of 2014. Since then, the Citizen Science program at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center had busy fall and winter seasons. The pages that follow highlight measurable impacts our volunteers have had on the health of the Salish Sea.

In 6 years, the Citizen Science program has doubled in volunteer hours. We will engage over 100 volunteers in the coming year. This summer, we will have 18 citizen science projects engaging mem-bers of our community in civic science. These are remarkable mile-stones for the program and we’d like to thank all of YOU for mak-ing it possible.

—Jamie Montague, Citizen Science Coordinator

This is the BIG day! Help us raise 13K!

Today is the BIG day!

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center is participating in GiveBIG, a one-day, online charitable giving event through the Seattle Foundation. Our theme is climate change action.

We are trying to raise $13,000 by the end of the day to support collective actions to address the problems affecting our oceans, including climate change, but we need your help.

Thanks to a group of generous PTMSC donors, the first $6,500 received today, May 5th, will be matched 1:1, so donate early through the Seattle Foundation's GiveBIG campaign and your gift will be matched dollar for dollar!

Your donation today will allow us to train volunteers and inspire visitors with our new Gone Green? Go Blue! exhibits, conduct important citizen science research on rising jelly fish populations, and fund a pilot program giving local high school students the opportunity to conduct research on ocean acidification.

All funds raised during the GiveBIG campaign directly support the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.

Please help us reach our goal of $13,000 today. Thank you for being a champion of ocean health and conservation.

Photo by Wendy Feltham

Jelly Populations on the Rise?

Over the last several decades, records of global jelly populations suggest numbers are on the rise. The jury is still out on whether or not this is a sign of an ocean in trouble. However, an important message emerges from marine researchers: ongoing worldwide jelly monitoring programs will act as sentinels to identify future changes in marine ecosystems.

For this reason, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is starting our own jelly survey. But we need your help.

You may be wondering: What is a jelly? Jellies are comprised of gelatinous tissue and lack hard skeletal components. Jellies have tissue composed of at least 95% water and are delicate and easily damaged. They are a key indicator species of ocean health and an important link in our local marine food web.

With your support, PTMSC will be able to collaborate with local researchers to develop a survey protocol and contribute our observation data to the global jelly survey program, JellyWatch. The project aims to be available to all PTMSC visitors, volunteers, and staff. The survey is designed around a “drop-in” style of Citizen Science, allowing any park or Science Center visitor to participate.

This coming Tuesday, May 5th, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is joining more than 8,000 nonprofits for the GiveBIG fundraising event through the Seattle Foundation to raise funds that will support the collective action necessary in addressing the problems affecting our oceans today, including climate change!

We need your help in raising $13,000 in one day to support climate-change action. Thanks to a group of generous PTMSC supporters, the first $6,500 donated will be matched dollar for dollar!

In anticipation of this BIG event, we’ve been sharing updates on some of our climate change efforts: our new Gone Green? Go Blue! exhibits, a pilot program with our local high school focusing on ocean acidification, and today, our citizen science project that studies jellyfish populations around the pier at Ft. Worden State Park.

Gone Green? GiveBIG! Support Your Local Ocean next Tuesday, May 5.

Photo 2 by Rachel Ganapoler

We’ve got BIG news!

Since the industrial revolution around 1750, burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This contributes substantially to climate change by trapping excessive heat in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide is also absorbed by the ocean changing the PH of the water, a process known as “ocean acidification.”

Ocean acidification affects species like oysters, clams, sea urchins, corals, and plankton. Their shells, comprised largely of calcium, can become brittle and difficult to form in acidic conditions, making survival for these species more challenging and placing stress on the entire food web.

It is estimated by the end of the century, surface waters of the ocean could become 150% more acidic.

Our oceans support us in a big way (like providing 50% of the oxygen we breathe). It’s time to go BIG to support our local ocean.

Next Tuesday, May 5, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center will participate in GiveBIG, a one-day fundraising event. If you choose to donate next Tuesday, your gift will allow us to pilot a program giving local high school students the opportunity to investigate ocean acidification solutions.

We need your help in raising $13,000 in one day to support climate change action.

When you donate next Tuesday, you are making a direct investment to reduce climate change.

And, thanks to some of our PTMSC champions, your investment on May 5 will be matched dollar for dollar up to $6,500, doubling your impact!

Gone Green? GiveBIG! Support Your Local Ocean next Tuesday, May 5.

New Go Blue Exhibits

We have exciting news to share with you! On Tuesday, May 5th, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is joining more than 8,000 nonprofits for the GiveBIG fundraising event through the Seattle Foundation to raise funds that will support the collective action necessary in addressing the problems affecting our oceans today, including climate change!

In anticipation of this BIG event, we will be sharing updates on some of our climate change efforts: our new Gone Green? Go Blue! exhibits, our citizen science project concerning jellyfish, and a pilot program with our local high school focusing on ocean acidification.

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s Gone Green? Go Blue! Support Your Local Ocean initiative builds on what we already do as individuals to live green and takes it to the next level — inspiring collective action to improve ocean health — starting locally with the Salish Sea.

Brand new exterior exhibits at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center show how the community can take ‘living green’ to the next level for local ocean health! Check out a video our Americorps volunteers made while installing part of the new exhibit:

The exhibits feature some of the wonderful things about the Salish Sea, the issues affecting the sea, and inspiration for all of us to take action towards a healthy future for the Salish Sea.

Go Blue! is an environmental initiative led by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center to raise awareness and inspire collective action to improve ocean health — starting here at home with the Salish Sea.

Our exhibits are open Friday-Sunday, 12-5 pm.

Visit us to discover life in the Salish Sea and what we as a community can do to ensure its health for generations to come. Through collective solutions, we can inspire other communities to Go Blue!

Our 'Squidlets' Have Hatched!

Curious about these mysterious opalescent egg casings? So were we! 

On the morning of December 7, 2014, Fort Worden's Ranger Todd found them on his crab pot. Citizen Science Assistant AmeriCorps member, Ashleigh, decided to document the development of these Loligo opalescens, California Market Squid, eggs. Typically laid on sandy or hard substrates on the seafloor bottom, California Market Squid eggs hatch in 3-5 weeks but may require longer in colder water.

Over the course of the first 26 days, the eggs slowly transformed from circular yolks to more distinct shape.  Day 31 brings the initial development of the eye stalks which are then followed by rapid developmental changes.

In the Day 45 photo, one can note the eyes at the base of the mantle, the external yolk sac has decreased in size, and the rapidly developing chromatorphores. These chromatophores, or pigment spots, can be contracted and expanded to allow adult squid to turn from a transparent white to an opaque red-brown. Day 53 shows the yolk sac almost completely gone and the chromatophores expanded.

Finally, Day 55 brought us the moment we have been waiting for! Several 'squidlets' (non-technical term) have hatched!  The hatching of the paralarvae from each capsule was staggered over several days.  One can observe in the final 'Post-hatch Egg Capsule' photo where the juveniles emerged from small slits in their chorions. Using powerful contractions from their mantel, the squidlets entered the waters of our beautiful Salish Sea, fully capable of rapid movement in any direction and sustaining themselves on the remains of their internal yolk sacs. 

Check out this link to see a video of a squidlet mobilizing for their grand entry to the Salish Sea!  You can see the rapid movement of the mantel and changing chromatophores, both essential for life in their abundant and diverse ecosystem.

Thank you to Ranger Todd for sharing these eggs with us back in December! While our eggs took approximately three weeks longer to hatch than the expected 3-5 week gestation period, scientists have noted that development is delayed in colder water. Let's keep stunning creatures like the California Market Squid in mind and continue to inspire conservation of the Salish Sea together! 

Feel free to contact Ashleigh (apilkerton@ptmsc.org) if you have any additional questions!

3rd Annual MLK Day of Service: Make it A Day On, Not a Day Off!

Oceanography on the Dock

This is the 2^nd year of Oceanography on the dock (O-dock) at Port Townsend Marine Science Center.   This year the focus of O-dock is on ocean acidification (OA).  OA is the result of burning fossil fuels, which releases Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. About one third of this CO2 dissolves into the world’s oceans. When CO2 dissolves into the water it forms carbonic acid.  The reaction of carbonic acid with water makes certain metabolic pathways for organism’s difficult, in particular calcifying organism.

This year PTMSC has a goal to educate and engage the public in conversation about OA.  I  was on the team that helped to develop the programming for this topic.   We wanted to design a place based program with a set of interactives that are very hands on, visual and simple and most of all empowering. This was a little challenging at times, because ocean acidification is not exactly a simple issue and the topic is not bright and cheery.  After a lot of thinking out of the box and tinkering with simple chemistry topics we came up with a program. We tried out the program once with PTMSC volunteers and then were able to give it a try with a high school group that was visiting.  We started out the program giving a brief overview of climate change and then asked if anyone in the group has heard about OA. No one had heard of OA!   This was huge surprise to me.  Not one kid from a high school group from Seattle had heard of an issue that has changed and will continue to change the marine waters in their backyard.

We went through the series of interactive.

1) Testing the pH of household liquids.

2) Looking at how our own breath changes the pH of water

3) Looking how a shell is effected by a higher acidify

 At the end of the program I felt excited that students walked away with new knowledge and enthusiasm for ocean health and thinking about how they could minimize their impact on the planet.  Although OA is not a bright and cheery topic, I feel proud to be a part of an effort to educate the community on this issue, which no doubt will have and has had a huge impact on the way of life in Washington State and the world at large.  Although this is was a tiny little step in the very big scheme of addressing the challenges that OA will bring, it is a tiny step in the right direction.  
Thanks for reading,
Annie (AmeriCorps Volunteer)

Gone Green? Go Blue!

In a clamshell…what is Go Blue?
Go Blue is a campaign led by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center to raise awareness and inspire collective action to improve the health of the Salish Sea.

  

What exactly does it mean to Go Blue?
Going Blue is about making ocean health a priority--understanding how the ocean sustains our lives and doing something to take care of it. Together. It means building on what we already do as individuals to live Green and taking it to the next level by engaging in collective solutions for community-wide marine conservation. As a coastal community we have a responsibility to be stewards of our marine environment and an opportunity to be leaders. The Go Blue endeavor dives deeper into the global issue of ocean health, reveals the human impact of climate change, waste, and toxics on marine marine ecosystems, and provides choices for what we can do as a community to address it in our own backyard.

Wendy Feltham photo

 Examples of Go Blue Collective Actions:
· Learn the 7 principles of Ocean Literacy and spread the word
· Google ‘dirty dozen chemicals’ and find out how to avoid them
· Support locally grown organic food
· Support stores that sell products with little or no packaging
· Support stores that promote the use of re-usable shopping bags
· Ask local media to cover more environmental news
· Ask cosmetic companies to use fewer toxics
· Ask Consumer Reports to include environmental impacts in product ratings
· Plant a city rain garden and stop 90% of the pollutants from stormwater runoff
· Join 3 friends biking 5 miles twice a week instead of driving and reduce 1 ton of CO2 emissions in a year
· Start a “stuff exchange” with friends or join groups like The Freecycle Network freecycle.org or Buy Nothing buynothingproject.org
· Post links about ocean health on your Facebook page
· Support federal and state policies and lawmakers who work to protect the ocean environment

Port Townsend Farmer's Market photo

How Does the Ocean Sustain Us?
Humans and the ocean are inextricably linked. The ocean moderates the Earth’s climate; influences weather patterns, and affects human health. It supplies 85% of Earth’s rainfall through evaporation and is our greatest source of oxygen thanks to tiny ocean plants called phytoplankton that live near the ocean surface. Over 70% of the Earth’s surface is ocean, more than 90% of life on Earth is aquatic, and nearly half of the world's human population lives within 50 miles of a coastline. From the ocean we acquire food, medicine, minerals, and energy resources. The ocean provides jobs, supports our economy, and serves as a highway for transportation of goods and people. The ocean is a constant source of inspiration, recreation, rejuvenation and discovery. The bottom line is we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the ocean. It takes care of us. So when we make the ocean sick, it’s our responsibility to make it right.

How is ocean health adversely impacted by human activities?
Climate change – Since the Industrial Revolution around 1750, burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This contributes substantially to climate change by trapping excessive heat in the atmosphere. The ocean has absorbed 50% of the carbon dioxide from these emissions and 80% of the heat added to the atmosphere by climate change. The major effects on the ocean have been increasing water temperatures and ocean acidification. Rising ocean temperatures can directly impact development, age of sexual maturity, timing of spawning, growth, and survival of most fish and cephalopods such as octopus and squid. Ocean acidification makes survival difficult for organisms that have chalky shells, which are harder to form in acidic conditions. Species directly affected include many plankton, sea urchins, scallops and clams and the stress on their populations affects the entire food web.

Pollution & Waste – Garbage, plastics, fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, as well as toxic chemicals found in pharmaceutical, industrial, household, and personal care products enter the ocean waters from deliberate dumping, untreated household sewage, stormwater run-off and the atmosphere. These pollutants make their way into the marine food web and ultimately reach humans.

Dive deeper to discover life in the Salish Sea and what we as a community can do to ensure its health for generations to come. For more information visit our exhibits at Fort Worden State Park
 in Port Townsend WA.