State of Knowledge Report for the Marine Water Quality Implementation Strategy

Executive summary

This Marine Water Quality State of Knowledge report provides a technical background to support informed decision making and recovery planning focused on the Marine Water Quality Vital Sign. The State of Knowledge Report is meant to:

• Provide a clear description of indicators and targets
• Provide sufficient technical background to allow informed development and review of
strategies to meet the chosen targets
• Provide technical background and analysis of strategies
• Identify and scope Critical Analyses

The Vital Sign that is the focus of this document was originally approved by the Puget Sound Leadership Council in 2012 and provides a target related to the level of dissolved oxygen in the marine waters of the Puget Sound. It states:

By 2020, human-related contributions of nitrogen do not result in more than 0.2 mg/L
reductions in dissolved oxygen levels anywhere in Puget Sound

The Vital Sign has since been updated to include existing measures associated with anthropogenic eutrophication (e.g., dissolved oxygen, nutrient balance, and marine benthic index) while being expanded to include stressors associated with global climate change and increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere (e.g., marine water temperature, ocean acidification).

Since the information in this State of Knowledge document focuses largely on the impacts and outcomes of nutrient management, it is still relevant to the successful management of the revised Vital Sign.