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Report: Low oxygen in Hood Canal is killing marine life

Published  August 29, 2015 2:37pm PDT
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — A Skokomish Tribe biologist says a lack of oxygen in the Hood Canal is killing fish, crabs and other marine life.

The Seattle Times reports that biologist Seth Book has been monitoring the waterway throughout August. He and other Skokomish staff have seen dead English sole, eel pouts along, cockles and butter clams.

And Book says he saw hundreds of crabs along beaches Friday that were trying to get to the surface to breathe.

A University of Washington buoy detected almost no oxygen in surface waters off Hoodsport on Friday.

This year is shaping up to be the worst in a litany of low-oxygen summers for Hood Canal. Warm marine water that has lingered in the Pacific Northwest has prevented oxygen-rich water from flushing the waterway.