Under water shot of a deadzone
It’s a small harvest, but a prized one: fewer than a dozen or so Dungeness crabs, hoisted fresh from the steel-gray water onto the deck of the Grey Whisper. Into the cooler they go, scrabbling with futility against its slick sides, destined for people who count on Skokomish tribal fisherman Tim LeCone of the most scenic places in Washington. Under the surface, the canal plunges to more than 600 feet deep but then steeply shallows as it proceeds north, where a sill at the gateway where it meets the rest of Puget Sound impedes vigorous exchange of water by the tides. In the summer, algae growth explodes, stoked by high nitrogen loads and nurtured by the feeble tidal action. When the algae die and decompose, oxygen is gobbled from the water. When other conditions, such as the winds, are also just so, fish die in droves. While a number of factors are degrading the water quality, the largest contributor is sewage. Old septic systems are partially to blame, but so are sewer systems that weren’t designed to clean nitrogen. “We are on the tipping point,” said Duane Fagergren of the Puget Sound Action Team, one of many groups working on the problem. “Crabbing, shrimping, oystering, water skiing, sailing, all of those are things people use the canal for, and many of them are in jeopardy. With more and more people, we have reached that critical point.” Tribe helps lead efforts The tribe is heavily involved in the fight to save the canal, from lobbying Congress and the state Legislature to diving the depths of the canal to assess its ailing health. Three years ago the tribe developed a composting business to recycle salmon carcasses rather than dumping them in the canal. The tribal fisheries staff is working with universities and government agencies to sample and monitor water quality. Staff members are tagging crabs to track survival, and diving in the canal to document the dead zones. About $24.5 million in state and federal money has been committed to build sewer and wastewater systems for Belfair, Potlatch, Hoodsport and the reservation. The tribe is helping to lobby for $18 million to $20 million more to get the job done.