Eelgrass (Zostera marina) provides critical ecosystem functions and services and is a vital biogenic habitat on Washington’s marine aquatic reserves but its placement at the land-sea interface leaves it vulnerable to multiple environmental and anthropogenic stressors. In this study, published scientific literature is examined to identify thresholds of environmental stressors...
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the international development sector through various external and internal stressors. Community engagement practices that international non-governmental organizations and non-profits conducted were disrupted by the pandemic, and communities were faced additional challenges when international development workers were required to socially distance or relocate at the onset of...
Recreational fisheries regulations at the state level along the US Atlantic coast are constantly changing to ensure the sustainability of marine fish populations. It is hypothesized that effective management of recreational fishing effort should have a positive impact on fish stocks. Using recreational catch per unit effort (CPUE) as a...
Climate variations within the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) have impacts on marine fish populations. It is proposed that these impacts will be reflected in recreational fishing catches which is explored in this study. A Pearson correlation analysis compares data from El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events and upwelling...
Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) are large areas closed to fishing in federal waters off the Washington, Oregon and California coasts. The Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) was responsible for the creation and regulation of the RCAs. The RCA boundaries were defined in 2002 to rebuild rockfish species declared as overfished...
The seafood industry in Alaska produces about 4.4 billion pounds of fish every year and approximately 2.2 billion pounds of fish waste. Product recovery rates in the seafood industry have increased in the last decade, but still a large portion of all harvested fish is unused and often discharged into...
Conservation of natural resources has become a new watchword of the scientific community. While many terrestrial ecosystems are well protected, marine ecosystems have only recently come to the forefront. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been introduced as a means of protecting biodiversity, commercial stocks, and ecosystem services. There are many...
Over the last three decades Oregonians have been engaged in a protracted discussion about Marine Spatial Planning. In the last twenty years the discussion has centered on the protection of Oregon’s natural marine resources and has taken on various labels such as marine gardens, conservation areas, marine sanctuary, and marine...
Recent observational programs to understand the coastal ocean, like the Oregon Coastal Ocean Observing System (OrCOOS) are under development (www.orcoos.org). A challenge in facing observing systems is achieving spatial and temporal coverage at scales that are useful for ocean modeling. Observational buoys are relatively few and towed arrays and gliders...
This project examined a watershed council sponsored volunteer estuary water quality monitoring program, from initial implementation to program status five years later. In addition, literature research and interviews with estuarine experts were conducted in an attempt to devise strategies to strengthen estuary water quality monitoring programs within the state of...