The annual meeting of Marine Resource Committees (MRC) that help guide policy and restoration work in the seven north Sound counties took place this weekend in Port Townsend. The MRCs are funded and supported by the Northwest Strait Commission. The annual meeting is always a full house packed with great speakers on the latest scientific and policy issues around restoration of the Salish Sea.
Speakers included President Obama’s Director of the National Ocean Council, Beth Kerttula who gave a spirited talk on working under the Obama Administration to set ocean policy. Also the Executive Director of the Puget Sound Partnership, Sheida Sahandy spoke on the direction of the PSP under her leadership up to now (Ms. Sahandy took over the PSP earller in the in year). Ms Sahandy braved a serious cold to give the audience what may be one of the better ways of moving the Partnership forward in some time. Julie Horowitz from the Office of the Governor Shellfish Initiative spoke on the latest coordination efforts in shellfish science at the State level. Ian Miller spoke on climate change and the impacts of it on coastal Washington communities, which includes problems ahead for Port Townsend, which will be negatively impacted by climate change. Jamestown S’Klallam tribal elder Marlon Holden who is also the chair of the Natural Resources Committee for the tribe gave us his blessing, as well as an overview of the tribal point of view on environmental protection, to kick off the proceedings. Look for links to the audio of the speakers at the web site of the NW Straits Commission, http://www.nwstraits.org/
MRC speakers (Clockwise from top): Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal member Marlin Holden, Sheida Sahandy, Beth Kerttula,,Betsy Peobody,Ginny Broadhurst,Ian Miller,Julie Horowitz, Christine Woodward
In the morning, the Jefferson County MRC had a tour of local restoration sites, on the Glacier Express.
Additional speakers also included Betsy Peabody, Puget Sound Restoration Fund, who spoke on a multi-faceted Approach to Combating Ocean Acidification;Tom Mumford, Ret. Dept of Natural Resources on kelp research; Ron Thom, Pacific Northwest of the National Laboratory on eelgrass research: restoring Puget Sound’s meadows. From Jefferson County,Cheryl Lowe of the Jefferson MRC presented on: Local Action: MRCs and Eelgrass Protection Efforts .
Ron Thom, Tom Mumford,Cheryl Lowe, Nan McKay, Jerry Masters, and Jill Clark presenting award to Joe Chang of F/V Bet Sea.