In June 2021, the region faced an unprecedented climatic event that led to high mortality in many shellfish species. An atmospheric heatwave coincided with the lowest low tides of the year (June 26-28), exposing intertidal and subtidal invertebrates to unusually high air temperatures. These anthropogenic changes (i.e., warmer ocean and air temperatures) are expected to persist and increase in frequency and intensity, suggesting that the threats extreme weather events pose to shellfish are likely to continue. Therefore, there was a need to create a Rapid Response Network for resource managers and shellfish industry members to prepare and stay uniformly informed about potential upcoming climate-induced shellfish mortality events. This effort includes creating a Rapid Response Plan that aims to develop standardized sampling recommendations that can be used to both: (1) monitor non-harvest beaches to obtain baseline data; and (2) detect changes to shellfish communities over time due to climate-driven events.
The Willapa Grays Harbor Estuary Collaborative (Collaborative) places the shellfish aquaculture industry and its many connections at the heart of Washington’s southwest coastal estuaries. The long-term mission of the Collaborative is to increase the resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems in the face of climate change and other stressors. To do this, Washington Sea Grant convenes quarterly meetings that focus on relevant issues and created a Science Advisory Committee for the Collaborative to align industry needs with research priorities. Currently, the Collaborative’s priority issues are focusing on ecological knowledge building, ecosystem monitoring, integrated pest management for burrowing shrimp and European green crab, and eelgrass. These topics have been created into focused subgroups that aim to amalgamate and complement Collaborative members’ current projects and research priorities to tackle these complex ecosystem issues.