There is no doubt that our local Washington waters are in trouble. Old-timers who used to dive Puget Sound in the 60’s and 70’s speak of much richer fish stocks throughout our waters. With the ever-mounting population pressures in our area, preserving Puget Sound and our other local waters will be an uphill battle that EVERYONE needs to take on as a responsibility. Here are a few things you can do to help prevent further deterioration of our local waters:
Everyday
Keep plastics out of the water. Do your part to assure you minimize your plastic waste, or at least dispose of plastics properly and recycle whenever possible. Plastics can take millennia to break down and kill wildlife that ingests plastic goods.
Make certain your car doesn’t drip or burn oil. These pollutants ultimately end up in our waterways. It takes very little oil to contaminate large shoreline areas. NEVER dump old oil down a storm drain - you might as well be dumping the old directly into Puget Sound or Lake Washington.
Reduce or eliminate nitrogen based fertilizers for your lawn. We all like green lawns, but fertilizers eventually drain through the soil and into our waterways. These fertilizers promote access algae growth and can result in oxygen deprived waters and fish kills.
Be extra careful when refueling on the water never to drip gasoline in the water. Also dispose of oily bilge waste water properly - don’t just pump it overboard.
Dispose of hazardous waste properly. This includes NiCad and lithium batteries that leach toxins into the soils if they end up in landfills. Home Depot and other hardware stores often have receptacles for batteries like these.
Take old PC and other electronics to PC recycling centers. Staples will take any old PC for $10.
Dispose of old fluorescent tubes and bulbs properly. These tubes and bulbs are filled with mercury vapor and need to be returned to an appropriate collection site - not thrown in a dumpster. McLendon’s hardware will take old tubes and bulbs for a small fee.
Leave natural areas (water, shoreline, or otherwise) BETTER than you found it. Take a moment and pick up a couple pieces of trash that someone else left behind. Take the initiative and do a little something extra to make the world a little cleaner place - even if you have to get your hands dirty.
Fishing
If you hook and line fish, catch and release whenever possible. Don’t over-harvest or “fill the freezer” simply because you can. This especially applies to the Cape Flattery area where rockfish daily limits are still inexcusably liberal and unsustainable. If you insist on fishing, only keep enough fish for that night. Fish is far better fresh anyway.
If you spear hunt, never target an orange colored rockfish. Two of our local rockfish species are either endangered or threatened (yelloweye and canary rockfish).
Never target black rockfish outside of the Cape Flattery area. These fish used to thrive in Puget Sound and San Juan Islands. Now, they are a rarity. They are JUST starting to make a comeback. Please let them recover.
Never target cabezon. Outside of Edmonds Underwater Park, we rarely see these kings of the sculpin family. Again, give this aggressive species a chance to recover.
Organizations
Support initiatives for marine reserves in our area. The quantity, size, and, and variety of finned species at designated marine reserves is dramatically improved over what we see elsewhere in our waters. You can help by volunteering or contributing to causes that spearhead marine reserve projects.
If you are a diver, become a member of REEF and fill out surveys. Volunteer surveys are critical in tracking the health of our water.
Political
Email our legislators that we want our sewer systems fixed. Remember several years ago we were all repulsed that Victoria still pumps raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca? Guess what - so does Seattle! During times of heavy rains, raw sewage overflows into Puget Sound and even some surrounding lakes. Instead of building $400M sports stadiums, tell our legislatures to fix our sewage management system and preserve our waters!
Support initiatives to ban ALL fishing nets from our waters. Fishing nets are indiscriminant killers. I have personally been involved with several derelict net recover efforts. The endless carnage these nets inflict is disheartening.
Everyday
Keep plastics out of the water. Do your part to assure you minimize your plastic waste, or at least dispose of plastics properly and recycle whenever possible. Plastics can take millennia to break down and kill wildlife that ingests plastic goods.
Make certain your car doesn’t drip or burn oil. These pollutants ultimately end up in our waterways. It takes very little oil to contaminate large shoreline areas. NEVER dump old oil down a storm drain - you might as well be dumping the old directly into Puget Sound or Lake Washington.
Reduce or eliminate nitrogen based fertilizers for your lawn. We all like green lawns, but fertilizers eventually drain through the soil and into our waterways. These fertilizers promote access algae growth and can result in oxygen deprived waters and fish kills.
Be extra careful when refueling on the water never to drip gasoline in the water. Also dispose of oily bilge waste water properly - don’t just pump it overboard.
Dispose of hazardous waste properly. This includes NiCad and lithium batteries that leach toxins into the soils if they end up in landfills. Home Depot and other hardware stores often have receptacles for batteries like these.
Take old PC and other electronics to PC recycling centers. Staples will take any old PC for $10.
Dispose of old fluorescent tubes and bulbs properly. These tubes and bulbs are filled with mercury vapor and need to be returned to an appropriate collection site - not thrown in a dumpster. McLendon’s hardware will take old tubes and bulbs for a small fee.
Leave natural areas (water, shoreline, or otherwise) BETTER than you found it. Take a moment and pick up a couple pieces of trash that someone else left behind. Take the initiative and do a little something extra to make the world a little cleaner place - even if you have to get your hands dirty.
Fishing
If you hook and line fish, catch and release whenever possible. Don’t over-harvest or “fill the freezer” simply because you can. This especially applies to the Cape Flattery area where rockfish daily limits are still inexcusably liberal and unsustainable. If you insist on fishing, only keep enough fish for that night. Fish is far better fresh anyway.
If you spear hunt, never target an orange colored rockfish. Two of our local rockfish species are either endangered or threatened (yelloweye and canary rockfish).
Never target black rockfish outside of the Cape Flattery area. These fish used to thrive in Puget Sound and San Juan Islands. Now, they are a rarity. They are JUST starting to make a comeback. Please let them recover.
Never target cabezon. Outside of Edmonds Underwater Park, we rarely see these kings of the sculpin family. Again, give this aggressive species a chance to recover.
Organizations
Support initiatives for marine reserves in our area. The quantity, size, and, and variety of finned species at designated marine reserves is dramatically improved over what we see elsewhere in our waters. You can help by volunteering or contributing to causes that spearhead marine reserve projects.
If you are a diver, become a member of REEF and fill out surveys. Volunteer surveys are critical in tracking the health of our water.
Political
Email our legislators that we want our sewer systems fixed. Remember several years ago we were all repulsed that Victoria still pumps raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca? Guess what - so does Seattle! During times of heavy rains, raw sewage overflows into Puget Sound and even some surrounding lakes. Instead of building $400M sports stadiums, tell our legislatures to fix our sewage management system and preserve our waters!
Support initiatives to ban ALL fishing nets from our waters. Fishing nets are indiscriminant killers. I have personally been involved with several derelict net recover efforts. The endless carnage these nets inflict is disheartening.
You can help
Emerald Diving
Explore the coastal and inland waters of
Washington and BC
Explore the coastal and inland waters of
Washington and BC
You can help