Here's a bit of trivia that might be of interest to Pacific NW
boaters, and to others outside the area as well. Recreational boaters
are being counted by a variety of scientific and environmental
organizations, and this piece illustrates just how they are going
about it in this area:

Quantification of Peak Season Marine Vessel Traffic Pressure in the
San Juan Islands

Jeffrey Dismukes, San Juan County

Jonathan Riley, Western Washington University

The marine waters surrounding the San Juan Islands appear to
communicate high levels of vessel traffic, especially during the sunny
summer days of peak vacation season. This perception is corroborated
by several factors: 1. international commercial shipping lanes serving
two major North American ports; 2. Alaskan Marine Highway, Washington
State and several international ferry routes; 3. a plentiful sport and
commercial fishery with 4 major game fish providing year round
opportunities; 4. an extremely popular yachting and pleasure cruising
environment featuring several nature parks accessible only by water;
and, 5. Orca pods and numerous sea-foul rookeries providing very
appealing on-water tourist attractions. However, prior to this study,
there have been no published attempts to quantify vessel pressures in
the San Juan Islands. In this pilot study we develop methods for
deriving statistics on vessel traffic utilizing spotters and digital
photography from fixed wing over-flights during the peak tourist
season (August-September 2006). Samples were stratified by weekend/
holiday days and week days. Data was collected for 4 week days and 9
weekend/holiday days. Results indicate average total of 953 vessels
on water at any given daylight time for weekend/holiday days and 659
for week days. Vessels were also identified by general type as:
power, sail, commercial fishing, cargo and ferry. Rough location
markers were plotted in a GIS yielding relative concentration
gradients.