Marine Species at Risk
This indicator describes changes in listings or designation of marine species at risk in the Puget Sound Georgia Basin. The species listed are native to this area and their populations have decreased so dramatically they are at risk or, in some cases, threatened with extinction.

What is happening?

As of September 1, 2004, 63 species of concern were either listed or designated by one or more jurisdictions in the Puget Sound Georgia Basin marine ecosystem. These jurisdictions include:

The following links may provide helpful information and are located outside the EPA.gov domain.

• Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC)
• Environment Canada
  
• BC's Conservation Data Centre within the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management
  
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Species Information
  
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Protected Resources
  
• Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission

Federal and provincial/state listings for species at risk are made in a number of different ways. For more detail on the listing process, read Listed Species of Concern Within the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Marine Ecosystem, Including Changes from 2002 to 2004 by Nicholas Brown and Joseph Gaydos, The SeaDoc Societyor view the following replicated Species Tables:

Listed Species of Concern Within the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Marine Ecosystem, Including Changes from 2002 to 2004
Table 1	Marine ecosystem species identified as species of concern by jurisdiction
Table 2	Invertebrate Species of Concern in the Georgia Basin / Puget Sound Marine Ecosystem
Table 3	Fish Species of Concern in the Georgia Basin / Puget Sound Marine Ecosystem
Table 4	Reptile Species of Concern in the Georgia Basin / Puget Sound Marine Ecosystem
Table 5	Avian Species of Concern in the Georgia Basin / Puget Sound Marine Ecosystem
Table 6	Mammalian Species of Concern in the Georgia Basin / Puget Sound Marine Ecosystem

Source: SeaDoc Society

The 63 species include three invertebrates, 27 fishes, one reptile, 23 birds and nine mammals. Twenty-six of the species were listed or designated as threatened or endangered by one or more jurisdiction.

In the Georgia Basin, the distribution was two fishes, one reptile, 21 birds and eight mammals. In Puget Sound, the distribution was three invertebrates, 22 fishes, one reptile, 11 birds and nine mammals (additional listings and designations were made by federal Canadian and U.S. authorities).

Of the 26 species listed as threatened or endangered by one or more jurisdiction, over-harvest, habitat loss, and chemical contaminants were the most frequent causes listed in status reviews for species declines^4.

Species Removed from the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Marine Ecosystem List Since 2002

• Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus): The U.S. Federal Government removed this bird from its Candidate species in 1996. Erroneous information prompted its original listing^.42
  
• Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos): This eagle does not sufficiently utilize the marine ecosystem to warrant consideration as a marine species.

Species Added to the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Marine Ecosystem List Between 2002 and 2004

The following links may provide helpful information and are located outside the EPA.gov domain.

• Bocaccio (Sebastes paucispinis): Designated Threatened by COSEWIC in November 2002. Off the west coast of Vancouver Island, Bocaccio numbers have declined an estimated 95 percent from 1980 to 2000. There may also be a decline in the Strait of Georgia, but more data are needed. Fishing is the greatest threat to the recovery.⁵
• Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus): The bull trout utilizes our nearshore marine ecosystem and is blue-listed by BC; a candidate species by Washington; Threatened listing by the U.S. Federal Government.
• Grey Whale – Northeast Pacific population (Eschrichtius robustus): Designated Not at Risk in April 1987. Status re-examined by COSEWIC and designated as Special Concern in May 2004. Grey Whales migrate though the Puget Sound Georgia Basin on their way to summer feeding grounds in Alaska and some spend the entire summer in local waters. The population increased following the cessation of whaling, and peaked at about 27,000 animals in 1998. However, over one-third of the population died from 1998 to 2002. The extent of recovery of the summer resident group is unknown.⁶
• Harbour Porpoise – Pacific Ocean population (Phocoena phocoena): Designated Data Deficient in April 1991. Status re-examined and designated by COSEWIC as Special Concern in November 2003. Harbour porpoise appear to be sensitive to human activities, and are prone to becoming entrapped and killed in fishing nets. They are a short lived shy species that are now rarely seen at the highly developed areas of Victoria and Haro Strait.⁷
• Killer Whale, Offshore Population (Orcinus orca): This sub-population of killer whales occasionally uses the inland waters of Washington State and British Columbia. The Offshore population was designated Special Concern by COSEWIC in November 2001, and SARA in June 2003. In March 2004, Washington State determined that all sub-populations of killer whales in Washington State are at risk of extinction and recommended them listed as Endangered in the State. In contrast, the U.S. Federal Government listed the southern residents as Threatened in 2004.

  The federal government of Canada listed the Northern Resident Killer Whales as Threatened and the Southern Resident Killer Whales as Endangered under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in June 2003. COSEWIC had prior assessed these species in November 2001 as Threatened and Endangered, respectively (see the Sierra Legal Defence Fund for a primer on the Species at Risk Act). The Transient Killer Whales were also SARA listed by Canada as threatened in June 2003. In 2003, there were a total of 290 northern and southern resident killer whales. By comparison there are approximately 220 transient and 200 offshore killer whales, although these numbers are less precise than resident accounts because not all individuals are encountered each year.⁸
  
  The Northern Resident Killer Whales constitute 16 pods with approximately 205 members. Between 1997 and 2003, the northern residents declined by seven percent. The Southern Resident Killer Whales constitute pods J, K and L and currently contains 85 members. The southern residents declined 17 percent between 1995 and 2001 and were listed as Endangered under U.S. Federal law in late 2005.

• Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea): This turtle was previously listed by BC, WA., and the Canadian and U.S. Federal Governments, but researchers were not aware that it used this marine ecosystem.
• Northern, or "Pinto" Abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana): Declines surpassing 75 percent prompted COSEWIC to designate the abalone as Threatened in 1999. The species was then listed uder SARA as Threatened in June 2003. The pinto abalone fishery was closed in Washington in 1994 based on dramatic declines between 1992 and 1994 at 10 abalone index sites.⁹
  
• Olympia Oyster (Ostrea conchaphila): This oyster was once a predominant feature of the bioregion but has done poorly due to earlier pulp and paper effluents. Several restoration strategies have been designed to rebuild stocks. The species was designated by COSEWIC as Special Concern in November 2000, and by SARA in June 2003.¹⁰
  
• Sockeye Salmon, Cultus Lake and Sakinaw Lake (Oncorhynchus nerka): COSEWIC designated the Cultus Lake and Sakinaw Lake populations of Sockeye Salmon as Endangered in October 2002 on an emergency basis, and reconfirmed the designations in May 2003. These designations were based on evidence supporting that these are genetically distinct populations based on the level of differentiation in neutral traits (implying isolation) and the existence of unique adaptations. The rapid decline of both populations and small size of the Sakinaw population qualified them as Endangered.¹¹
• Steller Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus): The Eastern Pacific population was designated as Not at Risk by COSEWIC in April 1987. The status was re-examined and uplisted to Special Concern in November 2003. The species is presently listed as endangered by the U.S. This species frequents a number of winter haul-out sites in the Georgia Basin.¹²

 

 

 

Previous
Introduction

Next
Why is it happening?