616 Marrowstone Point Road
Nordland, Washington 98358-9633
Phone: (360) 385-1007
Fax: (360) 385-7207

DIRECTIONS TO THE LABORATORY

This field station is located on Marrowstone Island at the northern entrance to Puget Sound, where the currents from the Strait of Juan de Fuca enter from the Pacific to the west and turn south to feed the Sound itself. The station is a former U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse, acquired in 1974. Besides the classic old lighthouse keeper's residence (a three-story house now used for office, library, and dorm space), the station maintains a laboratory/office building, two wetlabs with constant seawater flow, and support structures such as the pumphouse and shop. Approximately $4.0 million dollars was invested in construction and remodeling in the early 1990s.

Exceptionally high seawater quality is the station's primary asset, and because the facility is one of only a few seawater laboratories in USGS, it constitutes a critical research asset nationwide. Research at Marrowstone consists mainly of experiments which depend upon laboratory rearing of salt water organisms such as:

• Conducting research on introduction of marine and aquatic species to Northwest coastal waters via discharges from ballast water. The emphasis is on prevention research, to determine the technologies and methods best suited to ballast water treatment prior to discharge from ships.

• Characterizing the effects of stress and disease on salmon and trout as they transform to a salt water metabolism for life at sea. Most of the salmon life cycle is marine, but this is the least understood life history phase. Substantial new breakthroughs in the understanding of marine virus reservoirs has resulted from work here.

• Characterizing effects of contaminants on marine species and life stages. For example, cooperative work addresses the effects of Exxon Valdez crude oil on the disease susceptibility of pathogen-free Pacific herring when challenged by virus.

• Marine species rearing technology. Work toward spawning and early life stage survival of Pacific Halibut in captivity, for example, is a current cooperative project with the University of Washington and International Pacific Halibut Commission. This work is an important key to future conservation efforts for this species, now extirpated from much if its southern range.

Like the Seattle Laboratory, the Marrowstone Marine Field Station is available to a broad clientele for short term experiments requiring marine conditions, and small technical support projects arising on short notice. However, with just three full time staff and a small budget, most research at the Marrowstone Island Field Station is cooperative in nature. The high scientific potential of this institution is now an integral part of a developing plan for multidisciplinary research by USGS in Puget Sound, to support coastal habitat restoration.

SPACE AND FUNCTION TABLE