Plan aims aimed at reviving Hood Canal

By Ian Ith
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Now the task is finding ways to do it with the money available.

Two government groups — the state Puget Sound Action Team and the local Hood Canal Coordinating Council — released a "corrective action plan" that identifies the human sources of nitrogen in Hood Canal that end up sucking life-giving oxygen out of the water.

The groups have been working on an accelerated schedule since December, when Gov. Gary Locke distributed $25,000 in emergency money to find out what's wrong with the Puget Sound waterway. The budget has since grown to about $600,000.

Nitrogen feeds algae, which overgrows, then dies and decomposes, drawing oxygen out of the water as it wastes away. Low oxygen has caused significant fish kills and triggered fishing closures on the waterway.

Yesterday's report says 60 percent of the nitrogen is coming from human sewage, which leaches into the canal from septic systems of residents along the canal.

Another 14 percent is streaming into the canal from cattle manure. And 13 percent comes from chum-salmon carcasses, which tribal fishermen dump into the water after harvesting the roe, the report says.

Storm-water runoff adds 11 percent of the nitrogen, the report says. Other sources include forestry.

The plan announced yesterday calls for discussions with local governments about expanding and upgrading sewer systems to hook up Hood Canal residents and get them off septic tanks.

Additionally, the plan calls for farming changes, including fencing streams and rivers to keep cows out, and better controlling the disposal and storage of manure and the use of fertilizer.

The groups are also working closely with the Skokomish Tribe, which is a member of the teams, to find alternatives to dumping salmon. When the market for chum is low, the tribes make more money off the salmon roe, so the fish themselves are discarded.
 
Ideas include selling the carcasses to fertilizer and pet-food makers, said Mary Getchell, a spokeswoman for the Puget Sound Action Team.

"What we're proposing is an economic solution to an environmental problem," Getchell said.

Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com