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Low oxygen in Hood Canal killing marine life

By Associated Press
Published: August 29, 2015, 3:36pm

SEATTLE — Fish, crabs and other marine life are dying from a lack of oxygen in southern Hood Canal, according to a Skokomish Tribe biologist.

Biologist Seth Book has been monitoring the canal throughout August, reported The Seattle Times.

“It’s a dead zone anywhere east of Sister’s Point to Belfair, Mason County. There’s very low oxygen at depth,” Book said.

He and other Skokomish staff report seeing dead and dying English sole, eel pouts, cockles and butter clams.

And along the beaches on Friday, hundreds of crabs struggled to reach the surface to breathe, said Book.

Skokomish shellfish staff first noticed the die-offs in early July, when Book said there would be a fish kill one day and things would look fine the next day.

The die-offs could become worse over the next few days thanks to the weekend’s stormy forecast, which could cause upswellings that push deep, low-oxygen water to the surface.

After such an upswelling in Hoodsport on Friday, a University of Washington buoy detected almost no oxygen in surface waters.

This year is shaping up to be the worst in a litany of low-oxygen summers for the long, narrow Hood Canal, where there is limited water circulation.

“The Blob,” a mass of warm water that has lingered in the Pacific Northwest, has also prevent oxygen-rich water from flushing the canal as it normally would.

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