Jefferson marine committee provides educational content

Published 1:30 am Friday, April 10, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee leaders presented an update on its work to the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners.

The Marine Resource Committee (MRC) is one of seven in the state, all a part of the Northwest Straits Commission.

“Primarily, the committee’s role is to be a resource for the board of county commissioners,” chair Emily Buckner said on Monday. “The committee is made up of folks who have various expertise in the marine resources ecosystem.”

An advisory committee, the MRC holds monthly public meetings involving educational content, based on local issues, for the members and the community.

“We engage in lots of hands-on projects,” Buckner said. “Whether that’s outreach and education or restoration projects or monitoring.”

The committee is composed of representatives from marine science organizations, volunteers and government officials, including members from the city of Port Townsend, the Port of Port Townsend and Jefferson County commissioner Heidi Eisenhour, Buckner said.

Funding comes from a combination of federal and state funds, including NOAA and the Environmental Protection Agency through the Northwest Straits Commission.

It was unclear if all of the federal funding would come through for the two-year cycle, which started at the beginning of the year, but it did.

“I believe the funding is secure for the next two years,” Buckner said.

Fifty-three volunteers contributed to stewardship work last year, with the majority of volunteer hours being attributed to volunteer committee members, Buckner said. The MRC also sees 11 percent of its volunteer hours coming from community members.

The MRC saw 1,620 volunteer hours in total past year, with meetings, restoration work, education and outreach, monitoring and training taking up the volunteer hours.

The bull kelp monitoring project, at North Beach, is in its ninth year.

The MRC conducts three surveys annually, in June, July and August, Buckner said.

“This exact bed that we monitor has stayed quite healthy over the years,” she added.

Some bull kelp beds, in other parts of the Puget Sound, have not maintained their health, Buckner said.

“Because of our presence and a lot of accumulated data, a lot of other kelp researchers around the area have chosen this site to kind of build off of,” Buckner said.

A new buoy set by Puget Sound Restoration Fund, where Buckner works, is monitoring water quality.

The MRC continues its long-term project of Olympia oyster restoration in Discovery Bay. Recent surveys in Discovery Bay have revealed a thriving population with high densities of oysters.

Beyond population counts, vice chair Neil Harrington — an environmental biologist with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe — emphasized the ecological services provided by the native oysters, including improved water quality and habitat for juvenile salmon.

In partnership with local high school students, the committee successfully executed a derelict crab pot removal project using Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to locate and recover abandoned pots.

“Thirty-seven pots (were) removed with an ROV,” Harrington said. “This in some ways is a proof-of-concept project.”

The ROV project allowed students to gain technical experience while addressing the environmental hazard of “ghost fishing” caused by lost gear.

“In the last two years, we’ve created a local youth position,” Buckner said. “We had our first local youth join the position last year. She is now a freshman at University of Washington, in oceanography.”

Now the MRC has two local youth from Port Townsend High School, a lead and an alternative, Buckner added.

The group is taking part in derelict vessel removal efforts as well, Harrington said.

“I think we have a broader derelict vessel conversation to have. And that’s actually on our list of workshops for the year,” commissioner Heather Dudley-Nollette said.

The MRC is continuing its forage fish spawning surveys, storm surge monitoring, repermitting restoration areas for Olympia Oysters, continuing eel grass and shellfish protections with no-anchor zones, rain garden maintenance and education outreach.

The group also is taking part in shoreline armoring and recruiting volunteers to adopt rain gardens, Harrington said.

“Rain gardens intercept stormwater to prevent marine pollution,” Harrington said.

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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.