News-Times Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013 | Vol. 114, No. 15 | www.whidbeynewstimes.com | 75¢
TROUBLE ON THE DOCKS
INSIDE: Crebbin takes second. A9.
Ban on fish pens debated in Olympia Island County restrictions on salmon farming questioned By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
Jessie Stensland / Whidbey News-Times
A river otter walks across a dock at the Oak Harbor Marina last Thursday. Officials at the marina are looking at a contract to deal with the otters and birds which leave behind droppings.
Marina targets messy otters, birds
By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
erally protected species. Sublet said the workers set up sprinklers at the edge of the docks to try to annoy the seagulls, but with limited success. Which is where the USDA Wildlife Services come in. Sublet said the agency has authority to trap and remove the otters, haze the seagulls and turnstones and shoot the pigeons, which aren’t protected by law. The purpose of hazing, Sublet said, is to annoy the birds so they’ll go elsewhere. It could be as simple as yelling and clapping, he said, to stringing up dead seagulls. “They don’t like to see their own kind dead,” he said. The plan, Sublet said, is to enter into a one-year contract with the agency for $6,000. He said that will buy an average of four hours a week of expert animal displacement.
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A river otter, sleek and graceful, scampered across a dock at the Oak Harbor Marina on a Thursday afternoon before gliding back into the water. A half-dozen of the intelligent, playful creatures make the marina home. Unfortunately, the otters’ bathroom habits put them on a list of four animals marina management wants to remove from the area. “It hasn’t been a problem for me, but the otters make a mess for some people,” said Richard Littke, one of the few boat owners to visit the marina on the quiet day. “They seem to like the covered areas.” Chris Sublet, the Oak Harbor harbormaster, said he is hoping to contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services for help dealing with the otters, as well as seagulls, pigeons
and turnstones. The problem, he said, is the poop. The marina workers hose off the docks six days a week to remove the unsightly splotches of white, brown and green. It’s a lot of man-hours and a lot of water, he said. “The otters’ messes are the worst,” he said. “They are as big as dog poop. Really stinky, like rotten fish.” Sublet said creatures cause perennial problems at the marinas; they’ve dealt with them in different ways over the years, but they keep returning. As many as 75 seagulls congregate at F dock at night, leaving behind a thick mess in the morning. The pigeons roost in the covered moorage and create similar piles, he said. The marina workers, however, are limited in what they can do because otters, seagulls and turnstones are fed-
Anticipating difficult negotiations with state regulators over their recent ban on net-pen salmon farming, the Island County commissioners are putting high hopes on new legislation proposed in Olympia. If it becomes law, House Bill 1599 will empower cities and counties to prohibit the siting of net-pen farms through long-range planning documents known as shoreline master programs. The new law would effectively end a long-standing power struggle between the state Department of Ecology — the agency mandated with reviewing, overseeing and enforcing tenets of the Shoreline Management Act — and local-government officials want more say over what activities are allowed in their areas. “We should be able to have the ability to control our own waters,” Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson said. In December, the commissioners wrapped up years of work by approving an update to its shoreline master program. The document will guide development on and along the waterfront for the next 20 years. Among many controversial topics discussed, net-pen
salmon farming was one of the only issues that garnered strong opinions but little argument. Public testimony was overwhelmingly in favor of prohibiting netpen salmon farming from being allowed anywhere in Island County. The board’s subsequent decision to prohibit pens of non-native fish altogether put it in league with Jefferson County, which has been battling for years with the Department of Ecology over its ban on net-pen farming. State Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, is one of HB 1599’s primary sponsors and Jefferson County Commissioner Phil Johnson has been a key figure behind the proposed legislation. “The bottom line is they are deleterious to the environment,” Johnson said. State Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, is not one of the bill’s sponsors, but said Friday that she could throw her support behind the bill in its current form. “As it stands now, I think it’s a good bill, but I want to see it when it comes out of committee,” Smith said. “Counties should have the ability make their own decision,” she said. The Island County commissioners are doing what they can to ensure the bill’s passage, having unanimous-