One of the tasks of the HCDOP-IAM study is to assess the effects of low DO in Hood Canal on marine life and the effects of marine life on dissolved oxygen concentration. In year one of the IAM study, limited funds were allocated to this task. A group of scientists met to evaluate various proposals to address this task. The recommendation of this group, which was adopted, was to focus on the long time-series that the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) has on benthic organisms (critters living on and within the sea bed). A study to assess the effects of hypoxia on these communities is described in the two documents you can download here by scientists at Ecology and Western Washington University. Keep watching this site for their results.