So the quintessential dilemma in environmental policy seems to be the conservationist versus the hungry farmer/fishermen debate, which you’ve probably heard before. The conservationist has many arguments about protecting the forest or sea for its endless values, not just timber and fish but hard to quantify values like oxygen output and water purification, and also impossible to quantify values (although willingness-to-pay measures are trying) like aesthetic pleasure that creates wellness and feelings of wonder, connectedness, and fulfillment. But of those arguments can seem a bit diminished against a person that says, “But what are my children going to eat?”  I’m interested in finding a middle ground – a conservation strategy that can provide for the community and standards that are met alongside addressing social issues. To simplify, I normally tell people that I’m interested in Sustainable Development.

But my experience and research at Wild Rivers Coast Alliance (WRCA) has me questioning just about everything surrounding sustainability. What qualifications render something “sustainable”? I’ve been running into a lot of definitions. Most people agree that there are three basic principles that should be met (although often in varying degrees): Community, people, culture, i.e. social issues; Environment, ecosystem, conservation, i.e. ensure that the human dimension does not harm the natural surroundings, the goal to actually enhance the wildlife and restore it to its condition prior to human presence; and Economy, with the theory being that if the economy can develop, then the social and environmental needs can continue to be addressed. I’ve found that this dimension can also be debatable.

To me, the debate on the necessity of a growing economy is one of the most interesting questions in regards to sustainability, and one I think I’ll continue to develop during my time here at WRCA. Is a growing economy really necessary for conservation? What would conservation look like in an area of economic strife, if even possible? History seems to suggest that natural resources are the quickly exploited in sake of the economy. Some examples come to mind: the Dust Bowl throughout the southern prairies in the 1930s; The War and the Great Depression pressured farmers for a high crop yield, and exploitive agricultural practices led to a decade of dust for the region; In the 1960s and 70s Costa Rica reluctantly agreed to clear-cut many of their Tropical Forests for these same monoculture practices in order to export bananas, pineapples, and coffee to pay off international debt. What would “sustainable” practices look like in these cases? Would they even be possible, given the high crop demand?

My preliminary research seems to suggest that we may be facing a similar situation here on the Oregon South Coast. Throughout our nations’ history, the economy of the South Coast was bolstered by timber and marine/fish production. At its peak, timber accounted for nearly all of the pine across the U.S., and over 700,000 jobs throughout Oregon, on both federal and private lands. New federal regulations, along with increased competition from Canada and the Southeast U.S., led to a decline in the Oregon timber industry, which now accounts for around 250,000 jobs, mostly on private land. I have yet to research the numbers on fish production, but I’ve heard that a similar decline occurred, with the U.S. now importing a lot of their fish from international waters.

So as many organizations, including WRCA, attempt to launch conservation programs throughout the region, they are faced with the same farmer verses conservationist debate. How can we address social, economic and environmental problems? Can we avoid repeating exploitive resource practices? Furthermore, what would programs look like if the greatest weight was placed on the social and environmental aspects of sustainability? Would they survive? Encouragingly, it seems like many of the organizations that we work with are conservationists at heart, and also realize the importance social and economic development. They, too, are attempting to find a middle ground and reach a solution that contains all three principles.

It’s very exciting and enlightening to work at the forefront of this debate that I’ve continuously discussed in classrooms. I don’t have an answer to any of the questions that I brought up, but I think I’ll have a lot more light shed on possible solutions by the end of my Sea Grant experience, and I’m excited to continue to ponder these big questions. To help me ponder, I’d love to hear your thoughts on any topics discussed.

This week I received more information about the CBRAT project and settled into my research duties. I am starting with the effects of ocean acidification on decapods (shrimp, true crabs, hermit crabs etc.). Decapods are relatively well studied compared to other marine taxa because of their economic importance, however, they are a diverse group of organisms and have varied adaptations for living in a low pH environment. I have a lot of papers to get through and I hope some clear trends will reveal themselves in the coming weeks.

Favorite sunset shot of the week from the Yaquina Bay Bridge

Every now and then it is necessary to take a short mental break from reading scientific journals. Fortunately, my office looks out on the courtyard that is frequented by several varieties of colorful finches, hummingbirds, one large out of place seagull and European starlings. I know I promised marine organism fun facts, however, my favorite organism fact I learned this week is terrestrial. My office mate, Maya, another intern with expertise in identifying the regional wildlife told me all about how European Starlings were brought over in the 1890’s in an attempt to bring all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works to the Americas. Starlings were first introduced in Central Park, now there are over 200 million taking over North America. They are highly invasive species with a range spanning the entire US where they outcompete native birds for space. Who knew such an inconspicuous little black bird would have such an interesting story.

An epic face-off about to begin

In my free time I have been exploring Newport’s beaches, which has yielded some fascinating wildlife encounters. I spent a good amount of time watching a seagull have his beak snapped at as he attempted to eat a very much still alive crab twice the size of his head, a turkey vulture stealing a dead fish from a flock of seagulls (tough week for seagulls), seals lazing about the tide pools and the highlight of my week, spotting three Orcas heading into the Bay after sunset.

This Saturday was World Ocean Day and what better way to spend it than tide pooling in the morning and wandering through the Oregon Coast Aquarium with the other interns all afternoon. We finished off the weekend with some light hiking Sunday afternoon around the coast. All in all Its been a great week.

By the way, if you somehow missed out on properly celebrating World Ocean Day go pick up some trash off of your local beach or checkout what these awesome marine advocacy groups have to say: World Ocean Day, 5 Gyres.

Last week for me can be described in two words: field work. I was able to get outside and work on a different project each day. I started off my week by assisting South Slough lab technicians in the retrieval of SONDES water quality sensors located along tide gates in the upper Coos estuary. In the following days, I tagged along with Fisheries Biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW). My first day with ODFW consisted of fish seining at five sites throughout the estuary. The main goal of this work was to monitor the size and abundance of chinook salmon smolt. The next day I traveled with ODFW Biologists South to The Devil’s Backbone for littleneck clam population assessments. Working alongside these biologist taught me a great deal about the coastal species found on Oregon’s coast and the methods used to manage their populations. I concluded my week by analyzing settlement plates as part of an Olympia Oyster monitoring project and scouting out potential sample sites for my personal research project that I will begin this week.

I have decided to complete my own research project this summer on the European Green grab’s presence in the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. Green crabs have invaded the waters of the United States’ Atlantic and Pacific coasts. For years green crabs on California’s coast were unable to establish populations in Oregon and Washington due to colder waters. The invasive crab was first discovered in the Pacific Northwest in 1998 after an El Nino event which temporarily warmed waters long enough to allow the species to move North. The magnitude of the 2015/2016 El Nino is the largest since 1998 and incidental landings of green crabs in the Coos estuary have increased. I plan to compare my results to data collected from a previous green crab population assessment in South Slough conducted after the 1998 El Nino. The results of my study have potential importance in the management of dungeness crab fisheries as european green crabs have been shown to outcompete the less aggressive, commercially important native species.

I leave you with a picture of a garter snake I found just outside of my yurt a few mornings back. Follow my instagram account @CollinHoldingCreatures for more pictures of animals I encounter throughout my field work.

pic.twitter.com/HXgTm1ryQE

— Collin Williams (@Capn_Collin) June 27, 2016

The past few weeks have been exciting and eventful. I returned home after spending a year abroad studying at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton England. Only to unpack, repack and once again say goodbye to home and move into the dorms at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon.

My first office

As far as life in Oregon goes, I am a huge fan. The beach is a 20-minute walk to the west, a campus full of marine science experts sits to the east and a sand volleyball court is just outside my doorstep. I have met some awesome young scientists that share my passion for the ocean from all corners of the USA and I get to live with three of the friendliest and funniest ones! We have spent the weekend exploring the beach and the cute casual coastal town of Newport, complete with quirky coffee shops, delicious seafood and a picturesque lighthouse.

CBRAT is a program that attempts to define the potential risks climate change poses for marine species living in the Gulf of California up through the Beaufort Sea. The first phase of CBRAT involved cataloging hundreds of marine species, their traits habitats, ranges and taxonomic information. It’s an impressive feat, and some of the data is already available to the public here: http://www.cbrat.org/.

I will be contributing to the second phase of CBRAT that looks at the primary risks climate change poses to ocean creatures through sea level rise, warmer ocean temperatures and ocean acidification.

Sunset over the dunes

My research focus is ocean acidification. Many marine organisms use calcium carbonate to make their shells. As the ocean becomes more acidic calcium carbonate becomes more difficult for calcifying marine organisms like shellfish and plankton to obtain. The good news is some organisms have adaptations that allow them to live in lower pH environments, but the bad news is these adaptations are highly variable and not entirely understood for many species. That’s where I come in; I will be going through the existing literature and identifying characteristics that make ocean acidification a higher or lower risk for a particular organism and developing pH tolerance parameters for different marine taxa.

I am excited for a summer full of long walks on the beach, epic sunsets, improving my sand volleyball game and lots of marine science! Stay posted for updates on my research, adventures and sea creature fun facts.

By definition a Yurt is a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. A little more than a week ago, I had no idea what a yurt was. Now, I comfortably reside in one overlooking the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (SSNERR) in Charleston, OR. I’ll admit I was skeptical about not having running water at first, but after seeing the view from my front porch and getting to know my roommates, I have no doubt that I’m in store for an amazing summer on the coast.

One of the first things I noticed upon my arrival to Oregon is how nice the people are here. From the labs at Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB) and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to gas stations and even the local music store, I have met nothing but genuine and helpful people. If local fishermen are anything like the people I’ve met so far, it’s no wonder that Oregon Sea Grant and other agencies have made so much progress with innovative commercial fisheries management techniques. Collaboration and a positive attitude can go a long way. I am really looking forward to working with the great staff here at SSNERR for the next couple months.

As far as research goes, I am just getting my feet wet. This past week for me has consisted mostly of literature review and data entry, though I did get out on the water twice. My work will primarily consist of long-term biological monitoring of oyster settlement and fish abundance. I will compare my data from this summer to data collected at our sample sites from up to 30 years ago. Therefore, it is important for me to read through these previous publications to enable comparison of the different datasets. Data entry of previous fish seines is important to me as well. When fish are collected in the field, they are recorded in a log. I have been transferring information about each fish over from the log to a database that South Slough scientists will use to assess fish populations and write future grant proposals. I am also learning about the species richness and abundance found in SSNERR as I enter this data. My mentor has also encouraged me to pursue my own independent project to complete in my time here. I will continue learning about the organisms of SSNERR and propose potential project ideas next week.

My backyard for the next couple months… I could get used to this pic.twitter.com/JVF4w95UKk

— Collin Williams (@Capn_Collin) June 18, 2016

Greetings all!

I can’t believe my first year as a graduate student is already done (at least for schoolwork). The last couple of months have been focused on getting methods, materials, and interview guides compiled and out for comments among a great group of fellow graduate students. Although there ended up being a slight re-adjustment to the aim of the study, it now reflects what is needed by the marine resource managers better than the original version.

Additionally, I was in a marine and coastal ecology class which had an awesome fieldtrip to the study site near Boiler Bay on the Oregon Coast. Below is a sampling of the awesome plants, animals, and everything in between we got to find while we were out there.

I was also continuing to share my thesis poster at both the Portland State University Student Research Symposium in early May.

And the Joint Campus Student Symposium, which combines Portland State University, Oregon State University, and University of Oregon. Portland had the honor of hosting this year in late May.

I am heading off to northern Michigan next week to the International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM) conference. They are incorporating a tribes component for the first time this year, which fit right into my focus. In addition to attending talks, networking, and showing my poster, there is also a field trip of a (lake) coastal restoration lead by a tribe. The conference itself should be very interesting, and I have never had the chance to set foot in Michigan before. All this to say I’m very excited for the academic and travel opportunity.

Next steps are mostly a full launch of the field studies for thesis work. With the warming days I’m anticipating excellent weather between Portland and the coast. More pictures to follow. Onward to the summer field season!

Sabra