Number of species at risk in Salish Sea doubled, says report

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - A recent report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states “the total number of marine species at risk in the Salish Sea has doubled from 2002 to 2015.”

The accompanying map shows they are referring to an area that stretches from the Puget Sound to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and north beyond Cortes and Quadra Islands.

“As of December 2015, nearly 20% of all fish species in the Salish Sea ecosystem are designated as either threatened, endangered or have new data that suggest they may be at-risk. As well, approximately 34% of all birds and 43% of all mammals that use this ecosystem are threatened, endangered or are candidates for status assessments,” the report says.

“It's really sad news, that came out this year,” explained Christian Wilhelmsen executive director of the Georgia Strait Alliance.

She claims we are seeing these numbers because Canada and the United States have failed to address urbanization and loss of habitat issues that were identified 30 years ago.

“Pollution remains a problem, even though we're tackling some issues like wastewater. That's getting better in our region, but we have other sources of pollution runoff from cities, stormwater, agricultural runoff. These are continuing as our population grows and of course, the lens, which is exacerbating the problem, is climate change,” said Wilhelmson.

“Animals are under stress because of pollution, habitat loss, then you add the stress of climate change with water temperatures rising, and you have species that are struggling because of it. It's affecting their food sources; It's affecting their ability to reproduce.”

She pointed to salmon as a specific example. For thousands of years their eggs have hatched when food sources become higher in concentration. The rising river temperatures have thrown this alignment out, and brought about a decline in the salmon population.

That is because of climate change.

Add acidification, which is literally changing the chemistry of our oceans, and shellfish are affected.

So the birds, marine and terrestrial animals that feed on fish and shellfish are impacted.

Southern resident killer whales have so many toxins in their system that their ability to fight off disease is reduced.

Wilhelmson compared the situation to a big ball of yarn that is unravelling and making things worse.