The State of Edmonds Waters: Part 3 — Marine waters

A seagull at the waterfront in 2024. (File photo by Joe Christian)

Part 3 of a 5-part series. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

This is the third in a series of articles about the State of Edmonds Waters. Previous articles have discussed stormwater and Edmonds’ streams. This article addresses our marine waters. Subsequent articles will address estuaries and solutions.

The marine waters and shoreline of Edmonds are an important asset, both for their beauty and for their economic value.

The Puget Sound shore is important for recreation and provides critical habitat for shellfish, fish, kelp, eelgrass, multiple species of seaweed, birds, river otters, seals and sea lions. Juvenile salmon shelter here, and forage fish (surf smelt, Pacific sand lance and Pacific herring), food for birds, salmon and marine mammals, spawn along our waterfront and near Meadowdale Beach Park.

Edmonds’ shoreline has been highly altered in ways that may be useful to people, but change near-shore conditions.  Normally, prevailing winds and wave action move beach-building sediment north along our beaches. However, the railroad’s rock walls and the rock barriers of the Edmonds Marina breakwater disrupt that action. Wave action against the rocks reduces shallow water needed for migrating juvenile salmon, and the sediment sources that sustain sandy beaches. Salmon are forced into deep water where they are exposed to predators, and smelt and sand lance lose spawning ground. The shift in wave action has also increased the size of the beach at Marina Beach Park, shrinking the beach north of the marina.

Eel grass (File photo)

Eel grass grows in shallow, near-shore waters providing shelter for forage fish and shellfish. Kelp forests such as the one at Brown’s Point are important habitat for a wide range of animals. Both are declining in Puget Sound, an effect due to stormwater runoff contamination and climate change.

There are good data for water quality from long-term monitoring of contamination in mussels near the marina and near the ferry terminal.  Edmonds resident Alan Mearns began collecting data while working for NOAA in 2006, and Snohomish County and volunteers continue his work.

Mussels, which filter and concentrate contaminants that move up the food chain, have high levels of organic chemicals, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs, or flame retardants), and chlorinated pesticides (including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane compounds, or DDTs) and seven metals (lead, copper, zinc, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and aluminum). PAHs, PCBs, PBDEs, and DDTs were the most abundant organic contaminants detected in mussels at all sites. Resident orcas have high concentrations of many of the same chemicals. Other significant contaminants include nitrogen and phosphorous (from fertilizers and motor oil), microplastics (from everything!) and the Washington Department of Ecology reports high levels of bacteria near the dog park.

These contaminants come from stormwater, but also from trains and boats (exhaust and bottom paint). Most are highly toxic.

With climate change, water temperatures rise higher and earlier, and rivers have more extreme spring floods, then are drier in summer and fall. The warmer water encourages new species of plankton and fish and fewer large copepods (tiny crustaceans) and plankton, which means less food for forage fish, juvenile salmon, humpback and gray whales. Higher CO2 levels combine with higher water temperatures to raise acidity, limiting the ability of shellfish to form shells.

The changes we are making to the physical shoreline and the contaminants introduced will affect every aspect of our marine waters: the wealth of sea plants, fish, mammals, birds and even our beloved sandy beaches.

The next article will focus on the state of the Edmonds Marsh and Estuary. Then I will address  solutions that are available to address the issues.

— By Bill Derry

Edmonds resident Bill Derry is the president of the Pilchuck Audubon Society and a member of the Edmonds Marsh Estuary Advocates. He previously served six years on the board of directors for People for Puget Sound.

 

 

  1. It’s easy to walk along the beautiful Edmonds waterfront on a sunny day- or even a rainy, blustery one- and be oblivious to what’s happening in and under the water. This stormwater segment is an especially important wakeup call! Suddenly, those mussels in butter, garlic, and wine that I so enjoy don’t seem so appealing. I can only hope that the education we are now getting thanks to this excellent series by Bill Derry will propel us to take the actions that are needed to reverse this increasing accumulation of toxins in our waters.

    1. Yes, I no longer eat sea food at all. It’s no longer safe to eat, and buying seafood just contributes to overfishing… like the salmon that the Orca need. I wish they didn’t have to eat polluted fish but starvation is worse. I can’t look at fish in the grocery stores anymore, thinking of all those toxic chemicals they contain and the Orcas who are going without sufficient food.

  2. The stone railroad beach berm was laid down on sands and clays, and sub-surface water pressure keeps it stable. The tracks could be held aloft on deep concrete pilings stabilized by the same process that would allow normal deposition from streams and bluffs to once again reach the beaches and rebuild them. At present, they are only about half as extensive as they were before the sea wall was constructed. It might cause problems for houses perched on the bluffs, but managed properly, it might reduce the likelihood of catastrophic landslides as happened a few years ago at Woodway. This would be expensive but could transform the entire beach at Edmonds into an ecologically more successful landscape.

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