The Beach Watcher Class of 2004 is leading the charge in working to understand estuaries and their role in salmon habitat. February 7th was the first day Beach Watchers had a chance to hit the beaches with NOAA scientists Kurt Fresh and Anna Kagley. Fresh and Kagley are looking to expand their efforts at tracking juvenile salmon by teaming up with WSU Beach Watchers. "This is a perfect situation for our volunteers", said Meehan, who was on hand to take pictures. "The class of 2004 has a great start on educating our citizens about estuaries and this project of hard science plays beautifully into that effort".

The Marine Resources Committee teamed with Beach Watchers two years ago to collect data on the beaches of Island County to discover where sand lance and surf smelt lay their eggs. Just like this new effort with NOAA scientists, the forage fish work capitalized on smart volunteers being quality helpers for seasoned scientists.

Several efforts are underway to discover where juvenile salmon travel. NOAA is only one entity that has an oar in the water on this important issue. Skagit Systems Cooperative has also been doing extensive work, as have several of the tribal fishery biologists in the area. Don Meehan coordinated with the SurfRider Foundation to get financial support if their project proposal is funded. Furthermore, Washington Trout's proposal is funded and underway for collecting similar data on the west side of Whidbey.

The NOAA effort involves three estuaries in Saratoga Passage - Harrington Lagoon, Race Lagoon, and Elger Bay. Sampling will proceed for several months twice a week requiring a substantial volunteer effort.

The Island County Marine Resources Committee is reviewing its funds with a goal to support the Beach Watcher's coordination effort needed to have a successful project with NOAA. In addition to beach seining, the team will be loaned equipment to record water temperatures, etc.

Whidbey Beach Watcher team coordinator Bob Buck said, "This is a great opportunity for Beach Watchers to substantially enhance NOAA's efforts in determining the importance of pocket estuaries. It was a fun time Tuesday and nobody got dunked." Seven beach seining samples were taken at Harrington. One Chinook juvenile was found and survived the close scrutiny of the team.

The "Team" is seeking additional volunteers willing to commit to twice-monthly sampling at the Harrington and Race Lagoon sites. If you would like more information on this great project and would like to participate, please contact Dot Irvin at doti@wsu.edu or call 360-679-7391.