A recent summary includes information compiled in Winter 2013 by the modeling workgroup of the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP). It describes several ecosystem modeling efforts in the region.
Topics Overview
Georgia Basin
“The Georgia Basin is an international water body that encompasses the marine waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The coastal drainage of the Georgia Basin is bounded to the west and south by the Olympic and Vancouver Island mountains and to the north and east by the Cascade and Coast mountains. At sea level, the Basin has a mild maritime climate and is dryer than other parts of the coast due to the rain shadow of the Olympic and Vancouver Island mountains. At sea level, air temperatures range from 0o to 5oC in January and 12o to 22oC in July, and winds are typically channeled by the local topography and blow along longitudinal axes of the straits and sounds. Winds are predominantly from the southeast in winter and the northwest in summer.”
Sources:
Gustafson R.G., W.H. Lenarz, B.B. McCain, C.C. Schmitt, W.S. Grant, T.L. Builder, and R.D. Methot. 2000. Status review of Pacific Hake, Pacific Cod, and Walleye Pollock from Puget Sound,Washington. U.S. Dept. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NWFSC- 44, 275 p. (http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/publications/techmemos/tm44/environment.htm)
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The Salish Sea is also known as the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound watershed. It extends across the U.S.-Canada border, and includes the Strait of Georgia, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Puget Sound Basin, as well as the San Juan Islands (see map).
The name Salish Sea was proposed in 1989 to reflect the entire cross-border ecosystem. Both Washington State and British Columbia voted to officially recognize the name in late 2009. The name honors the importance of the ecosystem to the Coast Salish people, who were the first to live along its shores.
The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound species library now includes a list of species of concern in the Salish Sea watershed. The list was created by Joe Gaydos and Nicholas Brown of the SeaDoc Society, and was released as a paper presented as part of the Proceedings of the 2011 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference in Vancouver, BC.