Day 5 started with an early departure from Bellingham, heading southbound towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca to sample sites on the Olympic National Park. This necessitated quite the haul for the morning – the vessel didn’t reach Smith Island, about 2/3 the way to Dungeness Bay until 11:30 am. However, the team were richly rewarded for sacrificing station time for transit, recovering a very healthy adult Pycnopodia helianthoides from the trawl. Smith Island was an ammunition storage facility during WW2, and is surrounded by a broad shelf of rocks and sand. Perfect sea star habitat! The trawls were performed in ~ 35 – 40 m of water, which are of course deeper than any recreation diver can go.

Early morning departure from Bellingham towards the Olympic Peninsula

Healthy Pycnopodia helianthoides recovered from Smith Island – good to see!

After a successful first haul, the team decided to perform…