Whatcom County MRC Project - Bottomfish

Bottomfish are a group of marine fish that have received far less local attention than other marine fish, such as salmon and forage fish. "Bottomfish” are a wide variety of bottom-dwelling (“demersal”) fish found in Whatcom County and Puget Sound waters. Bottomfish are generally long-lived fish and take a number of years to reach sexual maturity. Thus, it can take bottomfish populations decades to recover from population decreases.

There has been limited data collected for bottomfish populations in Whatcom County. Through this project, the Whatcom County Marine Resources Committee sought to collect preliminary information about historical and current bottomfish populations and habitat. This information will be used to help identify areas of focus for further community education, data collection, and/or recommendations to the fisheries co-managers regarding priority bottomfish populations and habitat for protection.

There were four main components to the bottomfish project including:

• Compilation of existing information about Whatcom County bottomfish populations and habitat.
• Surveys of local commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, and divers to identify historical and current bottomfish populations.
• Community outreach materials to describe bottomfish that are found in Whatcom County marine waters.
• Community workshops to describe bottomfish, the pressures on their populations and preservation and management techniques. These workshops also involved an interactive discussion with community participants to identify historical and current bottomfish population.

Background Information
Bottomfish Surveys
Bottomfish Brochure and Fact Sheets
Bottomfish Workshops
Whatcom County Bottomfish Project-Final Report (PDF File)
Next Steps