Very good news. These kind of derelict vessels need to be removed from these beaches, which likely host forage fish and other critical habitat.
A derelict barge that had for decades both poisoned and smothered part of a Hood Canal estuary is finally on its way to the dump. A state Department of Natural Resources-led crew used excavators and dump trucks to break up and haul out the 475-ton barge this week. Constructed of creosote-treated timbers, the barge has been leaching wood preservatives and other chemicals into the Dosewallips River estuary, directly across the canal from Seabeck, for 40 or more years. About 200 feet long and 40 feet wide, the former shellfish processing barge also took up a piece of tidal real estate that has high value to threatened salmon and other marine life. Tristan Baurick reports. (Kitsap Sun)
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound |
