Sea Change
by Nausheen Mohamedali
In the murky water near Georgia-Pacific West’s outfall line, an octopus mugged local diver Richard O’Connor.
“I got into the water and there was this big octopus right in front of me,” O’Connor said. “I was holding a light and he wrapped himself at the end of my arm, released it, shot ink and took off with my light. I don’t know who was more surprised at that time, him or me.”
O’Connor said the octopus, which was about 6 to 8 feet in length, was most likely a giant Pacific octopus. These cephalopods are the largest in the world and can grow to 12-1/2 feet in length on a diet of crabs and other shellfish found in the sheltered waters of Washington and British Columbia.
Flushed daily by the tides, the fertile waters of Bellingham Bay provide habitat and feeding grounds for passing gray whales and sea lions, resident river otters and seals and enough fish and filter feeders to nourish them all. Despite the mercury, carcinogens and municipal garbage mixed in with the sediment of the bay, sea life abounds in Bellingham Bay.
Bert Webber, who retired as a professor from Huxley College of the Environment in 2003, said while problems associated with pollution remain within Bellingham Bay, people should understand the bay is still a rich and diverse ecological system.
“To me, the most important thing is to help people understand that for the most part, Bellingham Bay is a rich and productive and diverse biological area,” Webber said. “There are lots of things that live there.”
Webber runs the 65-foot charter boat the Snow Goose for marine science exploration programs. The program allows elementary and secondary school students to learn hands-on techniques for navigation, plankton collection and identification and water quality sampling.
Webber stood at the bow of the Snow Goose searching the bay, pointing out and naming birds that flew or paddled in the vicinity of a group of 15 shivering students all bundled up in coats and hats. Herring leapt above the water’s surface before disappearing back into the choppy water and a seal vanished below the waves as the boat cruised nearby.
According to “State of the North Sound and Straits,” an annual report from RE Sources and the North Sound BayKeeper, 220 species of fish populate the North Sound and Strait of Georgia. This includes eight species of anadromous fish, those that migrate from the sea up rivers to breed in fresh water. Most fish species are doing well, but declines in stocks of Pacific herring, rockfish and English sole have occurred because of near-shore development and over-harvesting.
The report states that nine species of marine mammals are regular inhabitants of the bay — orcas, gray whales, minke whales, Dall’s porpoises, harbor porpoises, Stellar (Northern) sea lions, California sea lions, river otters and harbor seals.
Richard Osborne, director of the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, said harbor seals and gray whales are the most common marine mammals in Bellingham Bay.
“In fact, (right now) harbor seals are at their highest levels in recorded history,” he said.
Bellingham Bay is a complex estuary, with five fresh water sources contributing to its overall structure and function. The Nooksack River, Whatcom Creek, Squalicum Creek, Padden Creek and Chuckanut Creek provide a constant influx of fresh water. This water mixes, circulates and cleanses the bay’s water, Webber said. Circulation moves deeper water to the surface, providing nitrates that encourage growth of phytoplankton and zooplankton, the base of the marine food chain.
“Those people who know something about Bellingham Bay harbor and the contaminant sediments associated with Georgia-Pacific think that, ‘oh, everywhere in Bellingham Bay there’s contamination,’ and that’s just not the case,” Webber said. “It’s a rich biological area and the animals are an indication of that rich diversity.”
The Nooksack River estuary is one of the most productive areas of the coastal systems in Bellingham Bay. It supports a host of marine life and encourages the whole food chain, Webber said.
“One thing that is kind of interesting is that you look out there and you would assume it’s all the same,” said Brian Bingham, who teaches environmental science at Huxley College. “It’s really not. It’s really a patchwork of different kinds of habitats, different kinds of environments.”
Bingham said this diversity is crucial in providing habitat for the animals of the bay.
While marine organisms dominate life in the bay, no hard line exists where water stops and land takes over, said Robyn du Pré, environmental advocate and former BayKeeper.
“There’s a lot of interface and interaction between marine organisms and the terrestrial ecosystem,” du Pré said.
She said river otters and muskrats are two examples of terrestrial mammals that depend upon the bay for survival. They use intertidal and coastal habitats as feeding grounds and their primary food sources are small crustaceans, amphibians, fish and birds.
Along the muddy banks of the Nooksack River estuary, river otter tracks are often found amidst the dense alders and brambles. Living in dens dug into the riverbank, otters are a common sight fishing along the shores of the bay.
The Nooksack River estuary is in good shape, while across Bellingham Bay, marine life is getting healthier and abundant as conditions become more favorable to growth.
Mike Macomber, head diver for Fairhaven Shipyard, said Dungeness crab, rock crab and shrimp are some of the benthic invertebrates that have increased considerably in number, especially within the past six years.
According to the RE Sources report, Dungeness crab harvests increased from 2 million pounds in 1992-1993 to a record 7.7 million pounds in 1999-2000.
Water quality standards are becoming more stringent and the bay is getting cleaner.
Ben Delzell, a diver with Sound Marine said that eight years ago visibility in the bay used to be 2 feet or less. Now, however, he can dive into the water and see 10 to 15 feet.
“At the dock over by Columbia Cement Factory, there’s not a lot of crap anymore,” Delzell said. “It’s not ooey, gooey mud. Life is coming back on the rocks, the crustaceans are coming back and it’s just nice. There are even a couple of seals poking their heads out of Squalicum Harbor. That’s their main dinner bucket now. There didn’t used to be one seal in that dang marina.”
From Delzell’s perspective as a diver, sandpipers, lingcods, bullheads, catfish and rockfish are all coming back. He said that as far as the whole of the bay is concerned, things are looking good.
As the Snow Goose headed back into the marina, the sky turned a darker shade of gray and rain began to pitter-patter upon the deck.
“We look at the bay and with the exception of some fascination with marine mammals, few people have an understanding of the critters that we have in our backyard, let alone critters that would be under the water,” du Pré said. “I know for me, I often have to cut a pause and remember that it’s not Lake Puget.
That’s a thriving (marine) wilderness and it’s right there; it’s like literally a mile from my house.”
