Kwiaht offfers $200 reward for lost instrument
Published 9:31 am Monday, September 16, 2013
The nonprofit conservation lab Kwiaht, parent organization for the Indian Island Marine Health Observatory, is offering a $200 reward for the return or recovery of a sensor that was removed last month from the county dock at Madrona Point, where it had been monitoring summer water temperatures since 2010. It is a black plastic cylinder about six inches long with a clear faceplate and contains irreplaceable coded data. Contact kwiaht@gmail.com or leave at the Indian Island office in the Eastsound post office building.”
“Other than losing a year’s water temp data, we’ve done very well this year. We engaged with more than 6,000 visitors to Indian Island, collected a huge amount of data and added a dozen species to our diversity list for the island. Most indicators are stable, but we are now certain that Bay pipefish have declined steadily since we first counted them five years ago, though we don’t know why. A fish-borne crustacean parasite is the most likely cause but we will have to confirm this by doing some additional research next summer. It will be a major issue raised when we have our annual Celebrate Indian Island event at Orcas Center this year – it will be November 21,” said Kwiaht Director Russel Barsh.
