The nearshore Strait of Juan de Fuca, which offers 294 kilometers (176 miles) of shoreline, is a critical component of a functioning Puget Sound ecosystem. It is the conduit of migrating species to and from inland marine waters of Puget Sound and British Columbia. Our shorelines offer over 70% of the kelp beds of coastal Washington. The nearshore Strait (shorelines stretching from Neah Bay to Admiralty Inlet including Port Angeles, Dungeness, Sequim, and Discovery Bays, Kilsut and Port Townsend Harbors) provide critical feeding, refuge, and migration corridor for many species including three federally and or state listed salmon (Puget Sound Chinook, Strait of Juan de Fuca/Hood Canal Summer Chum, and Bull Trout), as well as sockeye, pink, and chum salmon, many rockfish species (including copper, quillback, and black rockfish), forage fish (including surf smelt, sand lance, and herring). We also have numerous shellfish species including crab, shrimp, geoduck and oysters. We have numerous wildlife assemblages that depend on forage fish as well. These include marbled murrelets, tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets and other alcids, sea otters, Dahl's porpoise, Harbor porpoise, and killer whales.
While over 60% of our tideland is publicly owned, less than 12% of the adjoining upland is publicly owned. Thus local landowners will have a huge impact on the disposition of the nearshore, even if the tidelands themselves are well protected. The Puget Sound corridor has suffered sobering marine habitat and resource declines. In contrast, north Olympic Peninsula/Strait of Juan de Fuca nearshore habitats and resources are relatively intact. For example, while 10% of Clallam county shorelines have been armored, over 50% of central Puget Sound has been altered. Historically the Olympic Peninsula has been a geographically remote area dominated by multigenerational large landowners. So pressure on our marine resources and nearshore habitats has been relatively low and focused in targeted areas (such as Port Angeles Harbor, Sequim, Discovery, and Dungeness Bays). Times however, are changing. Large landholdings previously kept in forestry are being subdivided for development. Residential densities along the shoreline are increasing rapidly. Along with this development comes shifts to the nearshore environment. This shift is already being seen in nearshore management. For example HPA permit applications by individual landowners in Clallam County for bulkheads, piers, docks, and storm water outfalls increased by approximately 200% between 1999-2001. Impacts to the environment are now being noted.
- from 'Nearshore mapping of the Strait of Juan de Fuca Phase II' (see Files for a link to the report)