Our mission is to protect the habitat of Puget Sound tidelands from the underregulated expansion of new and intensive shellfish aquaculture methods. These methods were never anticipated when the Shoreline Management Act was passed. They are transforming the natural tideland ecosystems in Puget Sound and are resulting in a fractured shoreline habitat. In South Puget Sound much of this has been done with few if any meaningful shoreline permits and with limited public input. It is exactly what the Shoreline Management Act was intended to prevent.

Get involved and contact your elected officials to let them you do not support aquaculture's industrial transformation of Puget Sound's tidelands.

Governor Inslee:

Monday, May 5, 2014

West Coast Starfish Die Off Still a Mystery

"...it is possible the pathogen killing them
is nature's way of controlling the population."
 
A common starfish at the mouth
of Hammersley Inlet missing 2 arms. 
(credit Protect Our Shoreline)
 

The source of what has been described as the largest die off of starfish in the northwest and along the west coast is still unknown. CBC news from Canada has suggested it may be a pathogen but as of yet it is not yet been proven to be a bacteria, virus or protozoa. Arms pulling themselves off of the starfish, sometimes leaving a living starfish, and other times not, or a slow wasting away of the starfish are symptoms. [for arm separation, see this video at 3:40]

A Sun Starfish, also at the mouth
of Hammersley Inlet, showing lesions
which precede the leg separation.
(credit Protect Our Shoreline)
 
Whatever the cause, it is widespread and seemingly focused in waters of Puget Sound and British Columbia. You can help track sick star fish through the SickStarfish website. 
 
Cluster of healthy starfish
in South Puget Sound.

(credit Protect Our Shoreline)

 
Posted by Protect Our Shoreline at 4:16 PM
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