Debris another culprit harming marine life in Puget Sound
Lost fishing gear, creosote pilings add to dangers
Lost fishing nets are deathtraps.
In a single week, a gillnet lost near the San Juan Islands killed: one harbor seal, 68 red rock and kelp crabs, 30 spiny dogfish sharks, 25 sockeye and five chinook salmon, 30 rockfish, 40 kelp greenlings, 90 flatfish, 110 spotted ratfish and 30 ling cod.
Creosote pilings are stealthier killers.
The chemicals that keep marine worms and other pests at bay are fatal to herring eggs. The saturated wood will leach its toxic chemicals for half a century, causing fatal mutations in the developing eggs even at low levels of exposure. Its deadly effects on other creatures are less well-known.
While polluted mud and stormwater grab headlines, Puget Sound's restoration efforts also are targeting the macroscopic junk trashing the marine environment. And they're making a difference.
In the past five years, 631 derelict fishing nets and 1,256 commercial and sport crab pots were pulled from the Sound. In the past three years, 1,200 tons of creosote-soaked driftwood and 2,000 tons of pilings were cleaned up.
"It really has been a rewarding project," said Lisa Kaufman, creosote cleanup lead with the state Department of Natural Resources.
"People can't see mercury contamination. People can see this," she said, standing among logs and blocks of wood oozing creosote on the shores of Myrtle Edwards Park near Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park.
On Thursday and Friday, about eight workers with the department and the nonprofit group EarthCorps sorted through the driftwood, pulling out wood infused with creosote or other toxic preservatives. They sniffed weathered pieces for the characteristically sweet, oily stench of creosote. Larger chunks were hauled out using "log tongs" that encircled the wood and were attached to a wooden handle. Workers grabbed each side of the handle to haul them out.
Continue reading this article from the Seattle P-I:
Debris another culprit harming marine life in Puget Sound
