Carbaryl, Carbofuran, and Methomyl - National Marine Fisheries ...

urbanization throughout the Puget Sound, Hood Canal, and Strait of Juan de Fuca regions
have increased sedimentation, raised water temperatures, decreased LWD recruitment,
decreased gravel recruitment, reduced river pools and spawning areas, and dredged and
filled estuarine rearing areas (Bishop and Morgan 1996 in (NMFS 2008)). Large areas of
the lower rivers have been channelized and diked for flood control and to protect
agricultural, industrial, and residential development.
The NMFS' 2005 Report to Congress on implementation of the Pacific Coastal Salmon
Recovery Fund listed habitat-related factors as the leading limits to Puget Sound Chinook
Salmon and Hood-Canal Summer Run Chum recovery (PCSRF 2006). Similarly, the
principal factor for decline of Puget Sound steelhead is the destruction, modification, and
curtailment of its habitat and range. Barriers to fish passage and adverse effects on water
quality and quantity resulting from dams, the loss of wetland and riparian habitats, and
agricultural and urban development activities have contributed and continue to contribute
to the loss and degradation of steelhead habitats in Puget Sound (NMFS 2008).
Industrial Development
More than 100 years of industrial pollution and urban development have affected water
quality and sediments in Puget Sound. Many different kinds of activities and substances
release contamination into Puget Sound and the contributing waters. According to the
State of the Sound Report (PSAT 2007) in 2004, more than 1,400 fresh and marine
waters in the region were listed as “impaired.” Almost two-thirds of these water bodies
were listed as impaired due to contaminants, such as toxics, pathogens, and low dissolved
oxygen or high temperatures, and less than one-third had established cleanup plans.
More than 5,000 acres of submerged lands (primarily in urban areas; 1% of the study
area) are contaminated with high levels of toxic substances, including polybrominated
diphenyl ethers (PBDEs; flame retardants), and roughly one-third (180,000 acres) of
submerged lands within Puget Sound are considered moderately contaminated. In 2005
the Puget Sound Action Team (PSAT) identified the primary pollutants of concern in
Puget Sound and their sources listed below in Table 42.
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