[ ocean of possibility ]
Seattle Aquarium Opens Ocean Pavilion
By Randy Woods / Photo Courtesy of the Seattle Aquarium
After 20-plus of planning and four years of construction-related waterfront traffic jams, the Seattle Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion finally opened at the end of August, expanding the aquarium’s footprint by 50 percent and deepening the city’s connection to its historic and cultural maritime heritage.
The swooping curves of the 50,000-square-foot expansion includes the Northwest’s largest tropical reef ecosystem exhibit. Three immersive habitats in the new building showcase 3,500 aquatic plants and animals from the tropical Pacific Ocean, such as sharks, rays, reef fish, mangrove forests, and nearly 30 species of live coral.
One of the largest new attractions is called The Reef; a 500,000-gallon habitat featuring thousands of Indo-Pacific fish, including leopard sharks, eagle rays, and blue-spotted stingrays. Another habitat, The Archipelago, recreates an Indonesian mangrove forest above the waterline and a thriving, colorful coral reef below. A third section, called At Home in the Ocean, represents the immense biodiversity of the Coral Triangle region between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, allowing children to get an up-close look at exotic species like clownfish, seahorses, and leaf scorpionfish.
“It’s incredible to see this vision brought to life after more than two decades in the making,” said Bob Davidson, president and CEO of the Seattle Aquarium. “Our mission has always been to inspire conservation of our marine environment and that hasn’t changed. We need to take a global approach and think beyond our Pacific Northwest shores.”
Passersby on the waterfront will get a glimpse of the marine treasures before they even enter the Ocean Pavilion. In the plaza just outside the entry doors, a 30-foot-wide, 23-foot-tall round window, known as The Oculus, provides a view of The Reef habitat from below, with sharks, rays, and other fish swimming directly overhead.
The Ocean Pavilion will also use cutting-edge digital storytelling techniques to educate visitors about the interconnectivity and fragility of the world’s ocean environments. A 360-degree interactive video display in the One Ocean Hall room realistically recreates the experience of floating past a coral reef, drifting through a kelp forest, or swimming alongside whales in the Salish Sea.
Later this fall, the Pavilion will open its landscaped rooftop, which connects to the city’s new Overlook Walk that provides a direct route from Pike Place Market to the waterfront. Once completed, the rooftop will include native plantings, interactive public art by indigenous artists, and sweeping views descending to the waterfront. The Ocean Pavilion is expected to attract about 1.2 million visitors each year, the aquarium said.
The aquarium’s $160-million expansion has been funded largely via the One Ocean, One Future public/private financing campaign, which is now 88 percent complete. The City of Seattle has contributed $34 million to the creation of the city-owned Pavilion building.
Now that the Pavilion ribbon-cutting hurdle has been cleared, the Seattle Aquarium will focus on the next stage of its ongoing revitalization of its older structures on Pier 59. The aquarium is currently planning to expand its Salish Sea education and conservation programs at the new west end of the pier. Another goal is to transform Pier 60 into a “living habitat” for native shorebirds and fish.
Designed by LMN Architects and built by Turner Construction, the Ocean Pavilion has been certified as a LEED Gold building for its energy savings and sustainable construction practices and won both a Progressive Architecture Award and a Build Washington “Excellence in Innovation” award. Using a closed-loop filtering and recirculation system, 96 percent of the saltwater used on the property remains inside the building’s habitats each day. The building also operates 100 percent without the use of fossil fuels. For more details, visit: seattleaquarium.org.
[ more for moorage ]
Moorage Fees to Rise at WA State Parks in 2025
By Randy Woods
Tides rise and ebb, seasonal temperatures heat up and cool down, but fees? They always seem to escalate. Next year, expect to pay a little more to tie up at a Washington State Park dock or buoy.
According to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, at the start of 2025, daily moorage rates will rise from $15 to $23 and the daily moorage per-foot charge will increase from $0.70 per foot to $1 per foot. For annual moorage, the rate will rise from $5 per foot to $7 per foot, and the annual moorage minimum fee will go from $60 to $80. Watercraft launch fees will also increase from the current $5-$7 range to a flat $7 fee across the board.
While the new rates will not go into effect until January 1, 2025, those seeking advance moorage reservations for May 15 onward next year will see the new fee increases applied immediately.
The new rates were approved by the commission in April to reflect the 20 percent rise in inflation since the last moorage rate increase took place, along with utility costs that rose 37 percent from fiscal year 2019 to 2023.
In addition, standard campsite fees at state parks will also increase by between $3 to $5, partial utility campsite fees will increase $5 to $6, and full-utility sites will increase by $6, the commission said. The charge for using primitive sites, however, will remain unchanged, at a $12 flat fee.
Washington State Parks has the largest state-managed mooring system in the country, with more than 40 marine parks and 8,500 feet of moorage across Puget Sound. Parks obtains funding from state revenues and user fees, with user-fee revenue making up about two-thirds of its operating budget. For more information on the rate changes, go to: parks.wa.gov/boat-moorage.
[ clean your bottom ]
WDFW & WISC Remind Boaters to ‘Clean, Drain & Dry’ Before Winter Arrives
By Randy Woods
For those looking to winterize their vessels or put them in seasonal storage now that the weather is turning colder, the Washington Invasive Species Council (WISC) and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) want to remind boaters that October is a great time to help prevent the spread of unwanted species that can damage the state’s waterway health.
Under the state’s Clean, Drain, and Dry program, WISC and WDFW encourage boaters in Washington to take some simple preventative steps to reduce the chances that unwanted plants and animals are introduced into the sensitive Puget Sound aquatic environment. These three steps include:
- Clean – Make sure all visible plants, algae, and mud are removed from shoes, waders, life vests, hulls, engines, trailers, and other boating equipment, using a stiff-bristled cleaning brush.
- Drain – Allow any accumulated water and bilge to drain from boats, transom wells, or gear—including water used in cleaning—before leaving the vicinity.
- Dry – Let boats or gear fully dry before using it in a different waterbody.
These simple, common-sense methods are “the best way for any Washingtonian to help protect our waterways from hitchhiking invasive species,” said Stephanie Helms, executive coordinator for the WISC.
The most damaging invasive species already appearing in the region are Eurasian milfoil and Brazilian elodea, both aquatic plants that can attaches themselves to the surfaces of boats, motors, trailers, and other equipment. The plants grow so quickly they can overwhelm local habitat, crowding out native species and growing dense enough to clog boat engines and underwater pipes.
Another worrisome species that has not yet been found extensively in Puget Sound but is invading other nearby estuarine systems is the European green crab, which is spreading along the Washington coast and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The fast-growing crabs can outcompete other native crustaceans and can be potentially disruptive to the growth of local eelgrass beds.
Some of the more fearsome invasive animals are freshwater zebra and quagga mussels, which have wreaked havoc in the Great Lakes region and Midwest rivers and have made it as far west as the Snake River in Idaho as of 2023. The fast-growing mollusks have been known to encrust freshwater intakes in river and lake hydroelectric dam systems that may end up costing national water-based industries as much as $5 billion over the next six years.
The zebra and quagga mussel threat, alone, could cost more than $100 million a year locally in losses for the required repairs to water infrastructure should the shellfish appear in Puget Sound waters, said Justin Bush, WDFW’s aquatic invasive species policy coordinator. “They would require expensive and ongoing maintenance at water facilities, such as dams, irrigation systems, and fish ladders, and also could harm the environment, including salmon recovery,” he added.
For these reasons, the Clean, Drain, and Dry program also extends to non-motorized watercraft, such as kayaks and inflatable paddleboards and any equipment that touches the water, including boots and waders.
This year, WDFW received $3.6 million in state and federal funding to increase monitoring, prevention, and response readiness for quagga and zebra mussels in the Snake and Columbia rivers, and other statewide watersheds. The department conducted mandatory inspections in 2024 of more than 58,000 boats, kayaks, and other watercraft and intercepted 25 mussel-fouled vessels that were later cleaned and decontaminated.
For more information on the Clean, Drain, and Dry program, and for a how-to guide on steps boaters can take, visit the Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! website at: stopaquatichitchhikers.org.
[ paint, by the numbers ]
Copper-Based Paint Ban Halted Again, May Resurface in 2029
By Randy Woods
Boaters who were concerned about an expected ban on the use of copper-based antifouling paints on recreational boats by 2026 can relax a little longer. The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) said in June that, because no safer alternatives have been found to replace the copper-based paint, the ban will be delayed—for the time being, at least.
The ban on the paint was scheduled to begin on January 1, 2026, but included a clause that said if the state could not find “safer and effective alternatives that are feasible, reasonable, and readily available,” the ban would not go into effect. Because none could be found, Ecology said it will “continue to study scientific literature and submit a new report by June 30, 2029.”
This is the second hold on the copper-based paint ban since 2011, when Washington first enacted legislation to end use of the antifouling material, which was to begin in 2018. After two follow-up investigations by Ecology in 2017 and 2019 determined that some non-copper alternatives might, in fact, be more harmful to the environment than copper-based paints, the state legislature delayed the ban in 2020 and directed Ecology to continue to review related information.
Despite the multiple holds that have been placed on the ban, copper-based paint remains a serious concern at Ecology. Used by the maritime industry since the 1980s to prevent the growth of bacteria, algae, and corrosive barnacles on ship hulls, copper-based paint was found to be the most effective biocidal material. However, researchers later found that the paint can leach copper and other toxic chemicals into the water column that could inhibit the growth of other non-targeted flora and fauna, including salmon and other sensitive native species.
During Ecology’s extensive studies on non-copper antifouling materials, it identified only three chemicals—Tralopyril, zinc pyrithione, and DCOIT—that are registered for use as a marine biocide in the U.S. Test results on Tralopyril and zinc pyrithione proved to be no safer than copper, according to Ecology’s studies. The organic compound DCOIT (dichlorooctylisothiazolinone) appeared to pass the minimum criteria for antifouling effectiveness, but Ecology said the research was based on information that had “significant data gaps in performance.”
After six months of testing using the limited-but-available data, the Ecology study concluded that “DCOIT presented the lowest performance among non-copper biocidal paints and work less effectively than average copper paints in Puget Sound locations.” Ecology ultimately determined that it lacked “sufficient and credible data to conclude that DCOIT is an effective antifoulant to replace copper in Washington State.”
In 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted a “maximum allowable leach rate” for copper-based antifouling paints, saying the paint can release no more than 9.5 micrograms of copper per square centimeter of a painted surface per day. Any amount higher than that would violate EPA’s Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Starting in January 2023, the use of an antimicrobial pesticide called Irgarol was also prohibited in Washington State as part of a global effort to phase out the compound in commercial and recreational vessels.
Ecology said it will continue to search for safer alternatives to the toxic paints over the next five years and hopes to discover less-harmful compounds by 2029. For more details, go to: ecology.wa.gov/.
