Mussel Watch: Citizen Science in Bellingham

Three students were out last night helping Whatcom County Public Works collect mussels for Mussel Watch, a national sampling program of NOAA. The students collected native mussels from the Squalicum (harbor) marina jetty. These samples and all others collected from the more than 300 sites in the United States will be analyzed for chemical contaminants in the tissue of the mussels. Once the analysis is complete, the data will be used to look at both temporal and spatial contamination in coastal waters and the Great Lakes.

Left to right: Jackson Barnes, Rachelle Combs, and Julie Fix.