Anchoring in Eelgrass protection areas - PNW

[LizHK]

Hello -

If you're arriving in a new anchoring location in the Pacific Northwest- and looking for local information - what online or paper resources do you use?

I'm helping our local marine resource group figure out how to best communicate with visiting boaters about no anchoring "protection zones" for our delicate eelgrass beds.

We have visible buoys that mark the area - and interpretive signs on shore - but I'm wondering if there might be additional ways using navigation apps/marine guidebooks - to notify boaters as they are researching an area - so they don't get here and anchor in a protection zone by mistake.

I appreciate any information and ideas!

Thanks from the Eelgrass and me (Liz)

[tkeithlu]

Welcome to the forum, Liz. I'm in the southeast US, but a PNW member should bealong shortly.

[sv_pelagia]

I assume by "PNW" you mean Washington State?

(British Columbia is not really PNW, and rules/procedures would differ.)

[JeffBurright]

Happy to see this effort, kudos.

When navigating and choosing anchoring locations, I think most boaters are going to be using either the Navionics app or OpenCPN software with free NOAA ENC or Vector charts obtained online. If you can work with the developers of the charts (and maybe the NOAA coastal management program) to make sure that eelgrass bed boundaries are marked on the charts alongside any notices you want to make about them, that might raise awareness. To me, this is probably the most immediate way to get information in front of eyeballs at the time anchoring decisions are being made.

Also, if you get approval from the powers that be to mark the geometry of eelgrass beds with small buoys (clearly marked as too weak for anchoring so people won't try to moor to them), that might also help. (I see on a reread that you already did this)



Big signs at some of the popular launching spots and marinas (such as Washington Park in Anacortes or the marinas in Seattle, Bellingham, and elsewhere) do help get the word out before people head off. Making the mooring buoys free in vulnerable areas is a great step by the state.

We did a week in the San Juans last fall, and I'll admit we'd been anchoring all week before we went ashore on Cypress Island and saw the big signs talking about how the state prefers people to use the mooring balls for the sake of eelgrass and had made them free there. Fortunately we have a small boat and never pulled up grass with our anchor.


What about heading to the area book shops (Armchair Sailor, Fisheries Supply, others) and either getting some posters up or taking stock of the popular guides? We used the Migael Scherer cruising guide to Puget Sound, for reference.

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by LizHK

Hello -

If you're arriving in a new anchoring location in the Pacific Northwest- and looking for local information - what online or paper resources do you use?

I'm helping our local marine resource group figure out how to best communicate with visiting boaters about no anchoring "protection zones" for our delicate eelgrass beds.

We have visible buoys that mark the area - and interpretive signs on shore - but I'm wondering if there might be additional ways using navigation apps/marine guidebooks - to notify boaters as they are researching an area - so they don't get here and anchor in a protection zone by mistake.

I appreciate any information and ideas!

Thanks from the Eelgrass and me (Liz)

Talk to Waggoners for sure. They are the only yearly guidebook and they have a newsletter. You could talk to the Dreamspeaker people as well for future editions and there is the Salish Sea Pilot people (there's is electronic so they might do more frequent updates). The Boaters Blue Pages and Pacific Yachting also might help out with a notice or website post.

Unfortunately there isn't going to be one spot that everyone uses. So if you hit as many of them as possible you might get the message out better. Other than that maybe marina's and docks that are relatively close the aforementioned areas? The See a Blow, Go Slow campaign does this well.

Good luck

[MicHughV]

Eelgrass is a big deal here in Florida and numerous agencies, etc, are there to protect it, in one manner or another...

But why would one want to anchor in Eelgrass in the first place ?? It doesn't offer good holding that I'm aware off, and besides all the rules and regulations, I'd look for a spot that has no Eelgrass.

[aqfishing]

Hi,

Great effort on protecting the environment. Well done.

I assume your protected areas are legislated by law? I would hope so as we cannot have everyone running around zoning off areas. Protected areas need to be properly researched and consulted and then legislated.

Once it is properly legislated I would think it would be a requirement to be inserted into navigational aids, official charts and sailing directions.

On another note, as someone pointed out, signs on shore and in launching areas are no use to those who arrive by boat and do not go ashore.

Good luck.

[Ayb]

While researching port Townsend on navionics I noticed a voluntary no anchor zone called out, if you bring up details on it:

"Port Townsend's waterfront is a Voluntary Anchor-Out/No Anchor area designated by the Jefferson Marine Resources Committee to protect the eelgrass within the bay from anchor damage. Please observe and respect the boundaries by anchoring outside of the six cylindrical white buoys that create a line from the Northwest Maritime Center dock to the Washington State Ferry Dock."

...the waggoners guide notes it as well. I'm curious whether these are consistent, I'll keep looking through the navionics charts and comparing to the cruising guide.

[MicHughV]

ya, the term "delicate" eelgrass beds should raise a flag...whenever I hear someone use flowery language to describe something, my suspicions are aroused....not to say eelgrass beds should not be protected, but ???.....

[basssears]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Eelgrass is a big deal here in Florida and numerous agencies, etc, are there to protect it, in one manner or another...

But why would one want to anchor in Eelgrass in the first place ?? It doesn't offer good holding that I'm aware off, and besides all the rules and regulations, I'd look for a spot that has no Eelgrass.

Pacific Northwest = zero visibility in over ~5' of water most of the time, so you can't visually tell you're in eelgrass areas.


-- Bass

[Mithril Bham]

Notices to Mariners?

[PippaB]

If there is a legal restriction on anchoring it should show up on official NOAA charts, as that is the navigational source of record for most mariners. If it meets the requirements of an official MPA (Marine Protected Area) it should at the very least be registered with NOAA and shown on their website: https://marineprotectedareas.noaa.go...ory/mpaviewer/. The NOAA MPA team then works with the cartography section of NOAA to get the areas added to the charts.

NOAA also has an interesting short discussion on what is required to establish an NAA (No Anchoring Area): https://www.gc.noaa.gov/gcil_mpa-naa...20environment.. It isn't as easy as many localities would like to think.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

I assume by "PNW" you mean Washington State?

(British Columbia is not really PNW, and rules/procedures would differ.)

PNW includes Oregon as well, but I think she does mean Washington.

It would be useful to partner with some organisation that has a booth at the Seattle Boat Show in January - a lot of sailors show up there and would be interested. Since there is an eelgrass protection area in Pt. Townsend the Wooden Boat Show would also be a good place to provide information. I agree that Waggoners, both the annual Guide and the newsletters, are probably the best place for cruisers. Perhaps arrange for an article in their newsletter. For smaller boats, notices at nearby boat ramps would be useful.

Greg

[toddster8]

Waggoners shows eelgrass beds on all of its anchorage charts.

[Montanan]

Gladden to see that there are efforts to protect the remaining eel grass and kelp beds which are so vital to the ecology of the coast. Always hate to see the scouring circles of anchor rodes damaging and destroying marine life caused by inconsiderate vessel owners and operators. Protection of the eel grass meadows should improve the pacific herring and Dungeness crab habitats and advance the salmon recovery greatly.

Watershed resilience plan.
https://www.dnr.wa.gov/publications/...ec_summary.pdf

Of which the Snohomish River Eel Grass Conservation Plan is a part:
https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Archiv...File/Item/2153

This appears to be a near shore extension of the existing Native Growth Protection Area (NGPA), or Critical Area Protection Area (CAPA), is the Snohomish County Code designation for permanently protected property that contains a critical area, a critical area buffer or both. Critical areas include wetlands, lakes, streams, rivers, and geologically hazardous areas. Vegetated buffers aroundSign designating an NGPA critical areas are important in preventing loss of the functions and values that these sensitive areas provide and to protect life and property. Development permitted under the Critical Area Ordinance prior to 2007 are referred to as Native Growth Protection Areas (NGPA), while development permitted under the Critical Area Ordinance after 2007 are Critical Area Protection Areas (CAPA). These apply to both multi-residence developments and single-lot developments.



Published March 21, 2022

Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands Franz Establishes State’s First “Protection Zone” for Kelp and Eelgrass

https://www.dnr.wa.gov/news/commissi...homish%20River.

Executive order will preserve 2,300 acres of valuable habitat at mouth of the Snohomish River

Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz today announced a first-of-its-kind Kelp and Eelgrass Protection Zone to conserve 2,300 acres of valuable habitat near the mouth of the Snohomish River. The announcement follows the release of Commissioner Franz’s Watershed Resilience Action Plan, a 10-year plan for landscape-scale “tree to sea” restoration of salmon habitat in the Snohomish River watershed. The Protection Zone accomplishes one of the plan’s core initiatives just a month after its release.

Commissioner Franz, leader of the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR), signed a Commissioner’s Order that will prevent any development in the zone for the next 50 years. The zone includes a forest of bull kelp at the southern tip of Gedney, or Hat Island, and eelgrass meadows along the Snohomish River Delta and the shoreline of the Tulalip Indian Reservation.

“Our kelp and eelgrass are the breadbasket of the Salish Sea. They’re critical to the survival of our dwindling salmon and orca populations and act as a vital indicator of the health of our waterways because they respond so quickly to changes in water quality,” said Commissioner Franz. “Climate change doesn’t just impact our lands, it impacts our waters. We are witnessing a precipitous decline in kelp and eelgrass throughout Puget Sound.
“Today, we are taking unprecedented action to protect kelp forests and eelgrass meadows that remain, and restore areas where they can be reintroduced.”


Kelp and eelgrass provide juvenile herring, salmon, rockfish, and abalone the shade and camouflage they need to grow and support the marine food web for salmon, marine birds, and orcas. They absorb carbon at significantly higher rates than terrestrial forests, maintain shoreline stability, and provide refuge from ocean acidification for juvenile shellfish. Tribes along the Salish Sea have relied upon seagrasses and kelp for generations.

“Salmon are an integral part of Tulalip culture and lifeways,” said Tulalip Tribes Chairwoman Teri Gobin. “Eelgrass and kelp play an important role as habitat for salmon and as a buffer against climate change effects. Working together with our partners at DNR and Snohomish County we continue to find ways to improve quality habitat for these threatened species.”

DNR research has found bull kelp in South and Central Puget Sound declined by more than 80% in the last 150 years. DNR has also documented severe declines in eelgrass meadows in the San Juan Islands over the last 20 years.

Zone Complements Ongoing Conservation Efforts
The Protection Zone not only fulfills goals set out in the Watershed Resilience Action Plan, but also meets nearly 25 percent of DNR’s goal to conserve and restore 10,000 acres of kelp and eelgrass, set by Senate Bill 5619. SB 5619, which passed both houses of the Legislature earlier this month, increases funding for DNR’s programs to proactively assess and prioritize areas for coordinated conservation and restoration of kelp forests and eelgrass meadows throughout Puget Sound and along the Washington coastline.

“When we preserve kelp and eelgrass forests, we protect marine animals and endangered species, our climate through carbon sequestration, fish supply for fisherman, and homes on the shoreline from storms,” said Rep. Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham). “I applaud the work of Commissioner Franz, DNR staff, and community members who are working to preserve our aquatic lands for generations to come.”

The protection zone also builds on goals laid out in the multi-partner 2020 Puget Sound Kelp and Conservation Plan and DNR’s 2015 Eelgrass Recovery Strategy.

“Protecting critical habitat requires partnerships between Snohomish County and our state, local, and tribal partners," said Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers. "Forming a Kelp and Eelgrass Protection Zone is an important step toward protecting these vital resources along the shoreline of Puget Sound, including the eelgrass meadows within the Snohomish River delta. Kelp and eelgrass both perform a variety of ecological functions that are critically linked to the health of the Puget Sound and nearshore ecosystem.”

“Healthy eelgrass and kelp beds are essential for our endangered salmon," said Snohomish County Surface Water Director and Co-Chair of the Snohomish/Stillaguamish LIO Executive Committee Gregg Farris. "Eelgrass is used as migratory corridors for juvenile salmon as they travel from our rivers to Puget Sound. Kelp and eelgrass both provide protection from predators and abundant food for salmon and the prey they depend on. We appreciate the steps DNR is taking to protect this critical habitat.”

“In 2020, the Snohomish Marine Resources Committee worked with Snohomish County Surface Water Management and DNR to survey and map the presence of marine vegetation within the Snohomish estuary and along the County’s nearshore, including kelp and eelgrass," said Snohomish County Marine Resources Committee Co-Vice Chair and Marine Vegetation Project Lead Tom Doerge. "We are pleased to see the data that we gathered being used to help inform the protection of these important ecosystems.”