Boating with whales

Vessel disturbance is a threat to the Southern Resident killer whales, so in 2018 the San Juan MRC launched a pilot study and outreach campaign to shift boater behavior. A whale warning flag was introduced as a prompt to alert boaters to the presence of whales, and project partners created materials to share dockside and at local and regional events to ensure that others knew what the flags meant.

After two years of the program throughout the summer boating seasons, the MRC has recently published a report about the effectiveness of the flag to raise compliance and increase awareness of the Be Whale Wise vessel regulations and guidelines for best boating practices around whales. Click here to check out the results of their pilot study and what they learned in their final report.

Anchor out for eelgrass!

The start of summer boating season is always something to look forward to, perhaps especially this year when many other activities will be limited. In Port Townsend, a sure sign of boating season is when the voluntary no anchor zone buoys arrive to remind boaters to anchor outside the eelgrass beds. This week Jefferson MRC replaced those winter marker buoys with summer navigational buoys.

Eelgrass beds are home to salmon, crab, and other marine life, and in a popular anchorage like Port Townsend, frequent anchor dragging can add up to a lot of damage. In most cases, vessels only have to move offshore a few boat lengths to eliminate the anchor impact, and deeper water provides a better place to set an anchor than the softer sediment preferred by eelgrass, where boats are more prone to dragging and drifting.

Click here to learn more about Jefferson MRC’s voluntary no anchor zones. 

Skagit Kids on the Beach

Social distancing guidelines have forced Skagit MRC to get creative with this year's Kids on the Beach program, which is being carried out by educators at Padilla Bay Reserve. Program leads have developed a curriculum that includes a mix of online and offline activities, including videos, games, coloring pages, science journals, and a list of questions. Educators have also developed and distributed a curriculum for students who are unable to access the internet. Nine classes with more than 200 elementary and middle school students from Sedro Woolley, Concrete, and La Conner in Skagit County as well as Friday Harbor, Mukilteo and Everett are participating.