Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, Toni Droscher

Hood Canal has long been treasured as one of the most scenic places in the Pacific Northwest. It also used to be one of the most productive water bodies, sustaining generations of people on its bountiful fish and shellfish.

The canal’s natural beauty and recreational opportunities are a haven for boaters, divers, angers, bird watchers and hikers.

What’s the problem?

For all its beauty, Hood Canal is suffering from low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO)—a critical indicator of water quality health.     

This problem hit the spotlight in Spring 2002 and again in Fall 2003 when thousands of dead fish and other marine life washed up on

Hood Canal beaches. Like people, these creatures need oxygen to breathe. Without adequate oxygen, they were essentially suffocating.

 

In September 2006, low DO conditions again caused wide spread fish kills in Hood Canal . Scientists, divers and citizens reported that more than 30 species of fish died, including large lingcod, rockfish, several types of perch, eel-like fish, sculpins, flatfish and sand lance. The conditions were also hard on crustaceans. Observers found dead spot prawns, rock crabs and Dungeness crabs.

In September 2003, The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife restricted and closed parts of the canal to some types of fishing, in response to fish kills related to low dissolved oxygen.

What causes low levels of DO?

  • Poor overall water circulation.
  • Stratification of water that discourages mixing of surface-to-deeper water.
  • People are contributing nutrients—especially nitrogen—to the canal through runoff from fertilizing, septic systems, and other practices. Excess nutrients cause plankton and algae to reproduce at a rapid rate—or “bloom.” As the tiny organisms die, they sink to the bottom of the canal where they decompose, using up vital oxygen in the process.
Low DO and fish kills in Hood Canal's southern end are nothing new. Evidence of dead marine life dates back to the 1950s and even earlier. The difference today is that the low DO conditions last longer and are more widespread. The most severe conditions occur from Hoodsport to Belfair in the southern half of the canal. Now, severely low dissolved oxygen plagues deep water in the southern half of the canal year-round.

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What’s being done to help Hood Canal?

Thirty-eight organizations including state agencies, universities, tribal and local governments, nonprofit organizations and research institutes have formed a partnership to address the problem of low DO in Hood Canal: the Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Program (HCDOP). The HCDOP monitors, analyzes and develops corrective actions to address the low DO problem in the canal.

 

The Puget Sound Partnership is helping to lead the HCDOP and, together with its partners, is working to better understand the causes of low dissolved oxygen and to find solutions that will sustain the health of Hood Canal for future generations.

 

HCDOP comprises two integrated and complementary arms:

  1. The Corrective Action and Education group, led by the Puget Sound Partnership and the Hood Canal Coordinating Council. The CAE group focuses on:
    • Preliminary assessment, corrective actions and demonstration projects to improve levels of DO in Hood Canal. 
    • Educating and involving residents in ways they can help improve the quality of water in the Canal.
  2.   The Integrated Assessment and Modeling (IAM) study, led by the University of Washington and the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group.
    • The three-year IAM study that began in Spring 2005 monitors marine and freshwater plants in the canal. The monitoring data will be plugged into a computer model to quantify just how much nature and people contribute to the low DO problem. The computer model can also test corrective action scenarios.

A smaller group of HCDOP members coordinates efforts between the two arms. Members meet monthly to review activities and share information generated from research, education and corrective action efforts.

>> Read HCDOP monthly reports.

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Projects helping Hood Canal water quality

Following fish kills in 2002 and 2003, the Puget Sound Partnership provided $800,000 to 14 organizations in October 2004 to help improve water quality for fish, shrimp and other marine life in the canal. Most of these projects were completed by June 2006.  

In 2005 and 2006, Washington State allocated $25.7 million dollars for the 2005-2007 biennium to help restore water quality in Hood Canal.

In addition, the University of Washington received $1.4 million in 2005 and $1.8 million in 2006 to research the low dissolved problem to better understand the complexities of the ecosystem.
>> Learn more about UW's three-year IAM study  

 

>> What you can do to help water quality in Hood Canal

 

>> Learn more / get resources about Hood Canal

For more information about the Puget Sound Partnership’s work with Hood Canal , contact info@psp.wa.gov

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