Watching Our Water Ways

We should take a moment to recall another man of legendary proportion, a man who will be forever linked to the fishing history of this region. Chet Gausta, 95, of Poulsbo died Jan. 16, with a continuing record of catching the largest salmon ever reeled in and officially weighed out in Washington state.

Chet Gausta

Kitsap Sun reporter Josh Farley interviewed Gausta in 2005 when Josh worked at the North Kitsap Herald. Click here for his story, which recounts the excitement of Gausta’s hooking and landing the 70.5-pound chinook in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. His younger brother Lloyd and his uncle Carl Knutson were on board his boat at the time.

During the battle, the big fish broke the surface of the water for an instant, and Gausta recalled his brother shouting, “You don’t have a salmon; you have a porpoise.”

Here’s Josh’s recollection:

“Interviewing Chester “Chet” Gausta is an experience I will never forget. I was working at the North Kitsap Herald in 2005 and he invited me to his home near Scandia, where the salmon that made him famous hung mounted on his family room wall.

“That 70-pound whopper loomed over the entire room and Gausta’s smile about it — even 41 years after he’d caught it — never faded during our entire interview.

“It was so easy to imagine Chet, with his brother and uncle, exhausted, as they rumbled back to Seiku from the Straight of Juan de Fuca on that September day in 1964.”

Gausta’s name is still firmly embedded in the record books, where a variety of fish are listed. See the Land Big Fish website for details.

Chet Gausta, middle, shows off the big fish he caught off Sekiu in 1964. Chet's younger brother Lloyd, left, and his uncle Carl Knutson were with him on the boat.
Photo courtesy of Poulsbo Historical Society/Nesby

Chad Gillespie, a Kitsap Sun hunting and fishing columnist, visited with Chet Gausta about a year after Josh did. He wrote about him for the Sun on Sept. 12, 2006.

As a young man, Chet also was an all-around athlete who was offered a baseball/basketball scholarship to Washington State College. Instead, he played shortstop for the Poulsbo Town Team until joining the Armed Forces going into World World II. He later played on the Poulsbo VFW basketball team and participated in the 1948 national tournament. He was inducted into the Kitsap Oldtimers Hall of Fame in 1995.

His family submitted an obituary, which appeared in the Kitsap Sun yesterday.

While searching the Sun’s archives, I also found a letter-to-the-editor that Chet had written back in 1993. I was especially interested, because of the reporting I have done regarding Poulsbo’s Johnson Creek in 2008.

Here’s the letter:
(more…)

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When folks from out of state visit my family, we often make a trip to Seattle’s Pike Place Market, where we inevitably stop by the Pike Place Fish Market.

“There’s a really ugly fish over there,” I’ll say to my friends or relatives. “It’s known for its aggressive nature and ability to escape. This is a rare chance to see one, so get down there and take a close look at its teeth.”

As they lean down, one of the fish vendors will pull a string and the dead monkfish will jump at them. Needless to say, just about everyone recoils in alarm, becoming the latest victim of the great monkfish attack.

Check out this amusing video on YouTube, in which the camera operator herself becomes the victim.

I always believed monkfish were an ugly scrap fish that you might catch but would never eat, something like ratfish. I guess that’s the way it used to be, but now they’re actually considered a “delicious eating experience” by many cooks. Check out Squidoo.com for some basic information on monkfish.

Before you go out and buy monkfish for dinner, I would like to take you in a different direction. Monkfish have been over-exploited, taken in bottom trawls that catch everything and damage habitat, according to Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, which rates monkfish as a fish to "avoid."

The latest news, which comes via Gary Chittim of King-5 News, reveals that Pike Place Fish Market is taking extra care to offer only sustainable seafood. In pursuit of that mentality, vendors will no longer use monkfish to frighten people. (See video this page.)

It appears they’ll try to keep the gag going with a fish that is less ugly but more sustainable, according to Gary’s piece. We’ll have to see if a rockfish has as much effect.

By the way, if you want to remember our old friend the monkfish, buying a T-shirt might be the sustainable thing to do. Café Press offers some gems, including, “Give me monkfish or give me death,” “I speak monkfish,” “Raised by monkfish” and “Monkfish in training.”

And if you want to see a real monkfish attack, click on this YouTube video.

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I’m becoming something of a nerd when it comes to oxygen levels in southern Hood Canal. I’m sure it stems from the realization that we now have the technology to predict when fish will react to low-oxygen conditions by swimming to the surface, acting sluggish and sometimes dying.

Wolf eels at Sund Rocks in Hood Canal are disturbed by low-oxygen conditions.
Photo courtesy of Pat Lynch

In a story published in Monday’s Kitsap Sun, I took a step back from the immediate low-oxygen conditions and discussed our knowledge of Hood Canal, along with plans being formulated to address the low-oxygen problem.

Low-oxygen conditions reared their ugly head during the last week in September (Water Ways, Sept. 27). No major fish kills were reported before things began to improve somewhat by Friday (Water Ways, Sept. 30).

I’m keeping my eye on the charts and graphs and noticed a couple things that we can talk about. Compare the two oxygen profiles below with an eye to the surface conditions at Hoodsport (blue line) and deeper waters there below 40 meters.

Oxygen profile from Sept. 30

Oxygen profile today (Oct. 5)

The first thing I noticed was that the top of the hypoxic layer moved up from about 17 to 10 meters. That means if fish are avoiding that low-oxygen water, they will also move up. As far as I know, divers have not reported any observations to confirm or deny that change. One explanation is that the heavy ocean layer at the bottom is pushing up the entire water column. It also could mean that the surface layer has grown thinner, such as when south winds blow or north winds stop.

Meanwhile, the bottom of that middle hypoxic layer has moved up from about 70 to 50 meters and the edge has smoothed. That is an indication that the heavy ocean water, which contains more oxygen, is mixing with the bottom of the hypoxic layer.

One may also notice that the deep water at Twanoh (turquoise line) has become more oxygenated all the way through and is sharply higher in oxygen at the bottom. Perhaps this is an indication that the heavy ocean water has reached Twanoh and is mixing at the bottom, while winds and tides mix the water at the top.

University of Washington oceanographer Jan Newton has noticed a decline in the oxygen concentration in the middle layer at Hoodsport. She raises the prospect that this could result, in part, from low-oxygen water being pushed back from Lower Hood Canal by the annual intrusion of heavy ocean water. It needs to be checked further, she said.

I hope we get some diver observations this weekend or sooner. In discussing the current conditions with Dan Hannifious of Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group, we both wondered when deep-water fish will move back to their normal depth. What would it take for them to break through the middle low-oxygen layer to reach deeper water that is higher in oxygen.

If you would like to become an armchair observer of these conditions in Hood Canal, check out the graphs on the website of the Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Program. You’ll have to save old graphs to compare them closely, although another graph on the Nanoos website shows you changes in oxygen levels and other parameters over time for selected depths. (Click on “Regions” then “Puget Sound” and locate the Hoodsport buoy to find the graphs.)

Will the conditions in Hood Canal get better or worse this year? I’ll let you know, but if you see something unusual, feel free to post a comment here.

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Fish and other sea creatures are finding some room to breathe in southern Hood Canal as higher oxygen levels have returned to the upper portion of the waterway after things looked pretty bleak on Monday. See Water Ways post.

I reported yesterday that fish could safely go down to 60 feet in a story posted on the Kitsap Sun website, but conditions are changing all the time. Now it looks like the cutoff depth is closer to 50 feet, while waters closer to the surface appear to be more oxygenated than yesterday.

I discussed the situation with Dan Hannifious of the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group and included some of Dan’s comments in the story. Rather than repeat those comments here, I’ll let you click on the story.

What I did want to share are a couple graphs that show current conditions as of 9:30 this morning. Most of the real-time analysis comes from monitoring buoys in Hood Canal.

This is a profile of the oxygen levels from the surface down to the bottom of Hood Canal, or close to it. The blue line is for the Hoodsport buoy, turquoise for Twanoh and green for Dabob Bay. The black line is for Carr Inlet in South Puget Sound and purple is Point Wells near Edmonds. Biological "stress" occurs at less than 5 milligrams per liter, while "hypoxia" is shown at 2 mg/l. At Hoodsport, if fish go below about 18 meters, they will be in hypoxic conditions. Earlier this week, these condition were seen at the surface.
Data from the Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Program.

This graph shows changes over time. While conditions have gotten better near the surface (blue line), it doesn't show much change at 66 feet (green line). As we can see in the previous graph, the changes are occurring in shallower water and will take time to reach this depth. The red line shows the intrusion of heavy seawater containing more oxygen. When comparing, remember one graph uses meters, the other feet.
Data compiled by the Integrated Ocean Observing System

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Southern Hood Canal is back to its dirty tricks again, as dissolved oxygen concentrations have dropped to dangerous levels even at the surface. Numerous researchers are watching to see how these conditions play out.

A giant Pacific octopus, which should be hiding, clings to a rock wall Saturday at Sund Rocks Marine Preserve.
Photo by Pat Lynch

The mechanism that causes the oxygen to decline is a little complicated, but it’s pretty well understood. It involves nitrogen, sunlight, plankton, heavy sea water and south winds. See the story I wrote for today’s Kitsap Sun for a brief explanation, or check out a story from April 12, when I described findings from a scientific panel about the sources of nitrogen in the canal.

The graph below shows the oxygen levels at three depths near Hoodsport. As you can see from the blue line, oxygen levels near the surface declined rapidly over the past five days, a period when winds blew out of the south. Levels below 2.5 milligrams per liter are considered highly stressful for sea life.

At Hoodsport, oxygen levels rose at the 10-foot mark starting about midday yesterday. They declined again this morning, starting after midnight. Being close to the surface, oxygen levels in these waters are greatly influenced by winds and waves.

Waters at 66 feet deep stayed low in oxygen but fairly stable, as shown by the green line. Fish tend to swim into shallow waters to avoid those low-oxygen levels. A huge mass of low-oxygen water lies in this mid-range area.

Meanwhile, the low-oxygen waters in the middle layers are being pushed upward by heavy seawater coming in from the ocean. That deep ocean water contains more oxygen than the layer above it, as shown by the red line.

To follow these changes in close to real time, go to the Nanoos website and click on “Click here to view all assets” then on “regions” in the left column and “Puget Sound.” You can get information from most of these buoys. Hoodsport is the closest to the action in southern Hood Canal.

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The Elwha watershed promises to be an outdoor laboratory for the revival of an ecosystem after two dams are removed from the Elwha River.

Elwha Dam construction begins. (Click on image for webcam page.)
Olympic National Park photo

Dam removal began Thursday at Glines Canyon Dam, as I traveled to Port Angeles for a conference of more than 350 scientists and other interested persons. This group came together to learn about baseline studies conducted to date and to hear about anticipated changes in the ecosystem. Check out my story in Sunday’s Kitsap Sun.

Meanwhile, a controversy over a fish hatchery operated by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe threatens to erupt into a lawsuit. Several environmental groups have issued a 60-day notice to sue under the Endangered Species Act, saying raising steelhead from another area — Chambers Creek — could imperil the recovery of threatened chinook salmon and bull trout in the Elwha. See reporter Lynda Mapes’ story in the Seattle Times.

Will Stelle of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which oversees federal protections for salmon, said discussions about the hatchery are ongoing, but federal treaties assure the tribes a right to fish, and those rights cannot be ignored. A five-year moratorium on fishing has been imposed, but tribal officials say they may need hatchery-reared fish when fishing resumes.

About a year ago, I briefly described the restoration plan for each species — including salmon and steelhead — in a package of stories for the Kitsap Sun. See “Elwha Project Expected to Blast Open Nature’s Door to Bountiful Fish Runs.”

As for last week’s Elwha River Science Symposium, it was a remarkable group of researchers who discussed all aspects of ecosystem restoration, from physical processes like water and sediment, to all kinds of plants and animals. To get a taste of the presentation, read through the conference abstracts (PDF 584 kb).

I mentioned a few of the presentations in Sunday’s Kitsap Sun, and I could talk about them for hours. There was one presentation about birds that surprised me, and I wanted to share some of the conclusions with you.

John McLaughlin of Huxley College at Western Washington University explored the question of how birds might help restore vegetation in the reservoirs and flood plains associated with the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams.

Of 39 major native plants in the watershed, 23 have their seeds dispersed by birds. That’s 59 percent of the plants of interest. If managers could get the birds working for them, they might not need to plant as much vegetation by hand.

That 59 percent is higher than most temperate regions of the world, where normally birds disperse seeds from 25 to 40 percent of the plants, McLaughlin said. But it’s a lower percentage than for most tropical regions, where birds may disperse up to 90 percent of all the plants in the area.

By watching birds fly from vegetated areas to more barren areas and collecting samples of their scat, McLaughlin found that robins disperse more seeds than all other birds combined. In fact, the total was close to 100 percent for robins. While there are plenty of other bird species in the ecosystem, most typically do not fly from one habitat type to another, McLaughlin told the gathering.

He also found that most of the seeds deposited by robins ended up in and near logjams and piles of woody debris.

“Birds are agents of restoration,” he told the group, “but for them to work with us, you have to give them what they need, and that’s large woody debris.”

If one wants to use birds to replant the forest, the first step is to consider which plants you want to disperse, he said. Then downed trees and limbs could be pulled together into a pile, or one could simply leave existing piles in strategic locations. The woody piles must be located far enough from the desirable plants that the birds can make a difference in dispersing seeds. But if the piles are too far away, the birds may not cooperate with the plan.

As for the concern about birds dispersing invasive plants as well as desirable ones, many of the undesirables were removed from the area around the dams in preparation for dam removal. The concern about invasives is reduced further by understanding that only five of the 20 invasive plants are dispersed by birds.

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I’ve been amused by GEICO commercials for years. Not all of them are great, of course, and I don’t know if they sell many insurance policies, but I do enjoy a little humor mixed into the largely dull commercial breaks on television.

Have you see the newest GEICO ad, in which a little girl can’t find her pet goldfish, so she asks her father, who just happens to be eating a plate of sushi?

I try not to analyze humor, but this one is a definite shift away from the silliness of most GEICO commercials. It took me a couple times watching it to enjoy the dark subtlety of the acting.

This commercial goes with a new series called “Geico, a better way to save,” which focuses on ideas for saving money. One involves taking in a new roommate.

The “better way to save” series follows one in which a very serious man in a suit begins by asking a simple question: “Could switching to GEICO really save you 15 percent or more on car insurance.” He follows by asking one of several semi-rhetorical questions:

“Did the little piggy really cry ‘wee wee wee’ all the way home?”

“Do woodchucks chuck wood?”

Do dogs chase cats?

As for water themes, there is one in which the gecko, a mascot for the company, speaks with a jellyfish. The ad was used to promote a gecko exhibit, which traveled to zoos and aquariums as part of a wildlife-conservation campaign by GEICO.

As I said, not all the GEICO commercials are great, but the company proudly displays 39 of the spots that have aired over the past few years.

I don’t get too many comments on these “Amusing Monday” features, but I always like to know what you think about these snippits of American culture.

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I was away from home and away from my computer all weekend, but I want to tell you about an amusing new show on Animal Planet. It’s about a couple of New York aquarium builders who moved to Las Vegas to build some of the most spectacular aquariums in the world.

If you haven’t seen this program, which started in August, you are missing a reality show with family tension, practical jokes and some of the most unusual aquarium designs I have ever seen.

These aquariums are installed in casinos, restaurants, offices and homes for a variety of occasions, many of them romantic. I always thought of aquariums as square and ordinary until I saw this show. I could watch just to be surprised by the unusual tanks featured each week, yet this real-life odd-ball family is more fun than most fictional characters you see on TV sitcoms.

If you visit the “Tanked” website, you can catch up on the already-aired programs along with many extra videos, such as Wayde and Brett’s top-five most amazing aquariums, “Tanked” highlights, the most annoying habits of Brett and Wayde and even tips for building your own aquarium.

Please let me know what you think about this show.

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In a report last night on KING-5 News, Gary Chittim offered a visually rich account of the studies taking place at the mouth of the Elwha River, where nearshore and delta areas are expected to receive huge loads of sediment after the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams come out.

He noted that divers from The U.S. Geological Survey and Environmental Protection Agency have been fighting strong currents as they conduct a spacial survey of the plants and animals in the nearshore area.

Gary quoted Sean Sheldrake, dive unit officer for the EPA:

“Just yesterday, we were diving on a beautiful kelp forest with a variety of fish and plant life, and the hope is through this reconnection of the Elwha to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, it will not only continue but thrive.”

And in a news release last week from the U.S. Geological Survey, Sheldrake was quoted as saying:

“Until now, we’ve focused most of our attention on the effect this project will have on the river, salmon habitat and salmon recovery. But with this survey, we will have a more complete and much clearer picture of the effects on the nearshore ocean environment.”

More than 19 million cubic meters of sediment — enough to fill 11 football fields the height of the Empire State Building — has accumulated behind the Elwha River dams, according to the news release. That sediment is expected to create turbidity for a time, but in the long run could be beneficial for a variety of plant and animal species in area.

Documents for further reading:

Proceedings of the 2011 Elwha Nearshore Consortium Meeting (PDF 1.3 mb)

Nearshore function of the central Strait of Juan de Fuca for juvenile fish… Executive Summary (PDF 906 kb)

Elwha Nearshore Update, Summer 2011 (PDF 333 kb)

Nearshore substrate and morphology offshore of the Elwha River (PDF 4.5 mb)

Nearshore restoration of the Elwha River through removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams (PDF 308 kb)

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As demolition time draws near for the two Elwha River dams, 82 bull trout were recently captured in the middle portion of the river and moved upstream out of harm’s way.

Bull Trout / Photo: Olympic National Park

Scientists used their skills with hook-and-line fishing as well as the more direct electroshock treatment to take adults and juveniles from waters in and around Lake Mills at the upper Glines Canyon Dam, as well as from the section of the river between the two dams.

The bull trout averaged 14 inches long, and some were as big as 24 inches.

The fish were held in net pens in Lake Mills for up to 10 days. They were measured and sampled for genetic characteristics. Radio transmitters were implanted in 31 fish to track their movements. Then they were transported by helicopter to two locations upstream, one near Elkhorn Ranger Station and the other at the mouth of Hayes River.

The protective action is considered important, because removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams is likely to dislodge an estimated 24 million cubic yards of sediment that has collected behind the dams since they were built, according to estimates by the Bureau of Reclamation. Most of that sediment will come from a delta at the south end of Lake Mills. Bull trout caught in the sediment-laden river probably will not do well, researchers say.

“Using the best available science, we’ve taken steps to protect the bull trout population and given them immediate access to high-quality, pristine habitats in the upper river through this relocation project,” said Sam Brenkman, fisheries biologist for Olympic National Park.

According to the “Bull Trout Protection and Restoration Plan” (PDF 1.6 mb), turbidity will exceed 1,000 parts per million for extended periods and may periodically exceed 10,000 ppm.

Even at 50 to 100 ppm, bull trout may stop feeding, suffer from gill abrasion and experience stress that can reduce their fitness. Greater levels of turbidity can lead to reduced health and possible death.

Bull trout were moved by helicopter to the upper Elwha River. / Photo: Olympic National Park

It was assumed for planning purposes that fish remaining in the river would die. That’s why a priority was placed on maintaining access to high-quality areas upstream as well as tributaries and off-channel areas that can serve as refugia from the murky waters.

In addition, the demolition schedule includes “fish windows” when construction will cease and the river will clear up to a safer level, allowing for salmon and trout to migrate and spawn. These fish windows are scheduled for November-December to aid coho and chum migration into the Elwha; May-June for hatchery out-migration and steelhead in-migration; and Aug. 1-Sept. 14 for chinook and pink salmon in-migration.

Bull trout were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. Over the past five years, fisheries biologists have surveyed the river to find out where the fish hang out, tracked them with radio telemetry and conducted genetic studies to understand their population dynamics.

Based on this work, researchers estimate the adult bull trout population at less than 400 fish, less than 3 percent of the entire Elwha River fish community. Between 60 and 69 percent are found downstream of Rica Canyon, which lies just above Lake Mills.

Moving the fish upstream will allow them to find the most suitable habitat following dam removal. A unique characteristic of bull trout is that some individuals in a given population may migrate to the ocean, while others stay in freshwater their entire lives. Some may move into tributaries or lakes, while others prefer the main river.

Biologists believe bull trout once occupied the entire Elwha River system before the first dam was built in 1910. Following dam removal, the landlocked population above the dams will be able to move all the way downstream. The anadromous population that can’t get above the Elwha Dam will be able to utilize the entire watershed.

The relocation effort fulfills a requirement of a 2000 revision to the 1996 biological opinion for bull trout by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“We are pleased that we met our objectives,” said Pat Crain, fisheries biologist for Olympic National Park. “And this project, designed to protect a threatened species, would not have been possible without close collaboration among the various agencies.

“During two weeks of field work, more than 20 biologists — from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Student Conservation Association — assisted with and monitored the capture and relocation effort.”

The relocation work was completed June 17.

Other projects that should help bull trout include a culvert replacement on Griff Creek, a middle tributary of the Elwha, and an evaluation of the competition that occurs with nonnative brook trout.

If you’d like to read more about the Elwha Dam removal, check out the story I wrote for the Kitsap Sun Sept. 4, 2010, or visit Olympic National Park’s “Bull Trout” page.

The tagging of captured bull trout took place on Lake Mills. / NPS photo by John Gussman

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