Marine Stewardship Areas
What are they?
Marine stewardship areas are specific, named marine areas of distinctive character with great value to Island County. Citizens and visitors are asked to adopt an attitude of personal responsibility toward these waters, making a special effort to recognize, understand, respect and care for them because they are so important to our heritage and quality of life.
Island County's commissioners sent an unmistakable signal on Dec. 22, 2003, when they created the Admiralty Inlet and Saratoga Passage marine stewardship areas. They signaled that local action, education and voluntary environmental cooperation are the strategies-of-choice for preserving and protecting Island County's rich marine heritage.
There is good basis for each of Island County's two marine stewardship areas. Saratoga Passage is Island County's own sea, surrounded on nearly all sides by the county's two heavily-settled islands and adjoining all four of its population centers - Langley, Freeland, Coupeville and Oak Harbor. It is a major corridor of recreational boating and holds some of Puget Sound's largest eelgrass beds, which provide important spawning grounds for forage fish and habitat for juvenile salmon.
Admiralty Inlet is a major salmon fishery and corridor of recreational and
commercial marine traffic. Its faster-flowing, more-open waters hold kelp
beds and generally experience heavier weather and beach action.
Island County's commissioners called upon every citizen and visitor to care
for these waters through their actions and attitudes in thousands of individual
and personal ways. In so doing, they can help create a healthier marine environment
for future generations. That is the essence of stewardship - to promote a
sense of personal responsibility and care.
To bring about greater understanding, Island County MRC and its partner organizations will focus increased educational efforts on the nearshore waters of Saratoga Passage and Admiralty Inlet through signage, brochures, maps, speakers, classes, beach tours and other activities.
The stewardship approach appeals to people's almost universal desire to do
the right thing, once they understand what it is and why it matters. Understanding
leads to the voluntary adoption of more environmentally friendly behaviors
that will benefit the marine waters and all the creatures that rely on them.
Some of the ways the public can help may seem simple. However, when multiplied
thousands of times by the voluntary cooperation of thousands of homeowners,
they can make a profound difference. Examples:
> Minimizing the use of garden pesticides. Garden chemicals go into the environment and often make their way to marine waters, where they accumulate and have unintended effects.
> Letting shade trees grow along the beach rather than cutting them down, because they provide essential cooling to the eggs of forage fish, on which the entire food chain relies.
> Keeping septic systems healthy for many reasons, just one of which is because a failed system pollutes the groundwater and harms the marine environment.
Additional examples of good stewardship practices are available at the Shore
Stewards website, www.shorestewards.org.