NOAA lab may open its doors
Mukilteo hopes to convert research site to marine center
EVERETT – For nearly 40 years, scientists have flocked to a drab, two-story building along Mukilteo’s waterfront.
Inside the gray National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration station, they’ve studied why parts of the ocean are more acidic than others, how fish are affected by pollution and more.
Their work is among the most cutting-edge in fisheries science, yet few people outside academic circles know what goes on at the Mukilteo site.
Sure, scientists welcome busloads of school children for a glimpse, but visitors to the city are just as likely to walk by the building without blinking.
If city officials and scientists have their way, the site could eventually become a larger, regional gathering spot for scientists and tourists.
“We’re certainly not living up to the potential of what the site could be, going forward,” said Nathaniel Scholz, an NOAA research scientist who’s looking into how pollution affects the Puget Sound.
City leaders agree. They’re so intrigued by the idea of a spruced-up research center that finding federal money for it is one of their top priorities.
They’re asking the state’s congressional delegation for an extensive renovation of the research center.
“What we would like to see from that is something that’s more open to the public, where people can see what they do,” Mayor Joe Marine said.
The research station in Mukilteo is one of five research stations that make up the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, a NOAA research arm. The station in Mukilteo has fewer than 30 workers.
Behind the doors of the site, there’s a collection of sea creatures that could form the nucleus of a small aquarium: round, plastic tanks with abalone; containers filled with various algae and microscopic organisms called plankton, a major food source for sea creatures and a crucial part of the ocean’s ecosystem.
Scientists flock to Mukilteo for many reasons, but the biggest may be that the 1.1-acre NOAA site sits adjacent to one of the cleanest stretches of Puget Sound around, said Paul Plesha, who manages the Mukilteo station.
The water’s so clean because it’s 600 feet deep – extremely deep for being so close to the shore. It also has a fairly constant temperature and salt content, he said.
That makes Mukilteo an ideal place to get uncontaminated samples of fish and other sea life for study.
Just when NOAA could move forward, if it had the money, is unclear, Marine said.