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Eyes Over Puget Sound - 2020 Year in Review
The Washington State Department of Ecology has prepared a summary review of its Eyes Over Puget Sound surface condition reports from 2020.
KEYWORDS
- Action Agenda
- Adaptive management
- Algae
- Amphibians
- Aquatic reserves
- B-IBI
- Bald eagles
- Ballard Locks
- Biennial Science Work Plan
- Biofilm
- Birds
- Bivalves
- Circulation
- Climate change
- Contaminants of emerging concern
- Counties
- Disease
- Dungeness crabs
- Ecoregions
- Ecosystem-based management
- Ecosystem services
- Eelgrass
- Environmental justice
- Estuarine habitat
- Eyes Over Puget Sound
- Fishes
- Floodplains
- Food web
- Forage fish
- Freshwater habitat
- Geography
- Green crabs
- Harbor porpoise
- Harbor seals
- Harmful algal blooms
- Healthy human population
- Herring
- History
- Human quality of life
- Hypoxia
- Implementation Strategies
- Invasive species
- Invertebrates
- Jellyfish
- Kelp
- Killer whales
- Mammals
- Marine birds
- Marine debris
- Marine habitat
- Marine Protected Areas
- Marine Waters Overview
- Modeling
- Monitoring
- National Estuary Program
- Nearshore habitat
- Noise
- Nutrient pollution
- Ocean acidification
- Oil spills
- Persistent contaminants
- Physical environment
- Plants
- Puget Sound boundaries
- Puget Sound Fact Book
- Puget Sound Pressures Assessment
- Puget Sound Update
- Reptiles
- Resilience
- Rockfish
- Salish Sea
- Salish Sea Currents magazine
- Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference
- Salmonids
- Sea-star wasting disease
- Sea level rise
- Sewage and fecal pollution
- Shellfish
- Shoreline armoring
- Social science
- Species and food webs
- Species of concern
- State of the Sound
- Stormwater
- Summer stream flows
- Terrestrial habitat
- Tidal energy
- Toxic contaminants
- Traditional ecological knowledge
- Tribes
- Vital Signs
- Water quality
- Water quantity
- Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIA)
- Watershed hydrologic unit codes (HUC)
- Watersheds
- Zooplankton
RECENT ARTICLES

Puget Sound National Estuary Program: Tribal Implementation Final Report
This report details the outcomes, successes, and reflections of the final two years (2014-15) of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Estuary Program award dedicated to tribal restoration and protection projects in the Puget Sound watershed.

Once hearty 'hooligans' declining in the Salish Sea
A river spawning species of forage fish known as the longfin smelt is rare and getting rarer in the Salish Sea. Biologists are looking into the mysterious decline of the ‘hooligans’ of the Nooksack.

Types of estuaries in Puget Sound
An estuary is a place where saltwater from the ocean mixes with freshwater from rivers and streams. Technically, this defines all of Puget Sound, but scientists have identified several types of "sub-estuaries" within the water body. These include pocket estuaries (or embayments), tidally-influenced rivers and wetlands and other areas near the shoreline connected with freshwater sources. This summary provides descriptions of these estuaries from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, the Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership and other sources.

Pathology findings and correlation with body condition index in stranded killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the northeastern Pacific and Hawaii from 2004 to 2013
A 2020 study of pathology reports for 53 stranded killer whales in the northeastern Pacific and Hawaii showed that deaths related to human interaction were found in every age class. Vessel strikes accounted for the deaths of four of the nine endangered southern resident killer whales identified in the study. The findings were published Dec. 2 in the journal PLOS ONE.

Timeline: The search to find a chemical that kills coho salmon in urban streams
The search for why large numbers of spawning coho salmon have been dying in Puget Sound's urban streams goes as far back as the 1980s and culminated this year with the discovery of a previously unidentified chemical related to automobile tires. We offer a detailed timeline for the discovery.

Scientists hunt down deadly chemical that kills coho salmon
Environmental engineers and chemists at the University of Washington Tacoma have identified a mysterious compound implicated in the deaths of large numbers of coho salmon in Puget Sound. The chemical is linked with a rubber additive commonly used in tires and is thought to kill more than half of the spawning coho that enter the region's urban streams every year.

The history and chemistry of tires
Modern automobile tires are a complex mixture of chemicals, all used together in different ways to give tires their structure and properties, including riding comfort, safety and long life. Chemicals from tire wear particles are now thought to be responsible for the deaths of large numbers of coho salmon returning to spawn in Puget Sound streams.

2019 Puget Sound Marine Waters Overview
A new report from the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program details the effects of a changing climate on Puget Sound in 2019, and documents how these changes moved through the ecosystem to affect marine life and seafood consumers.

Eyes Over Puget Sound: Surface Conditions Report - October 26, 2020
After a relatively warm summer and fall, and La Niña forming in the tropics, stream flows in the Puget Sound region are now relatively normal. Summer in Puget Sound produced lots of algal and organic material in the water and on beaches, which by October have disappeared. Kelp beds look strong in northern Puget Sound and the Straits; and the harvest of the annual chum salmon run is in full swing in Hood Canal. Jellyfish aggregations are visible in Budd and Sinclair Inlets — and some of the jellyfish might conceal a beast of another kind within. Oil sheens on the water are currently numerous.

Puget Sound National Estuary Program land development and cover base program analysis
A 2020 Base Program Analysis from the University of Washington Puget Sound Institute presents an overview of the programs, policies and initiatives that support the Puget Sound Partnership’s Land Development and Cover Implementation Strategy.

Combining bugs and chemistry in Soos Creek stormwater study
Many creeks and waterbodies in Puget Sound may look pristine, but most face serious threats from stormwater pollution. A new study at Soos Creek shows how mud-dwelling bugs, traditional chemistry and digital "heatmaps" can be used to track stormwater impacts and identify the most polluted areas. Scientists and planners hope that this may one day lower the price tag on costly stormwater fixes.

Eyes Over Puget Sound: Surface Conditions Report - September 28, 2020
A warm and dry summer ended with a smoky September due to massive wildfires that were followed by strong rain. As a consequence, muddy river plumes in Puget Sound are very visible, especially near the Nooksack River. During summer, many wonderful citizen contributions documented the large formation of organic material in Central Sound and helped us cover the gap in EOPS flight from April-September. By September when we started flying again, a few bays still had red-brown blooms. Nevertheless, schools of fish are abundant, and jellyfish are sparse, which is good news. Meet our new ocean acidification experts.

Interannual differences in postrelease movements of rehabilitated harbor seal pups (Phoca vitulina richardii) in the Salish Sea
A study published in Marine Mammal Science in June 2020 followed the movements and behavior of rehabilitated harbor seal pups after being released into the Salish Sea. The results suggest that although their movements differ from wild pups that have been weaned, the rehabilitated pups do successfully make the transition.

Nooksack River Transboundary Technical Collaboration Group 2019-2020 annual report
The Nooksack River watershed spans part of the border between British Columbia and the State of Washington. In August 2018, the international, multi-agency Nooksack River Transboundary Technical Collaboration Group (TCG) was established to implement a three-year work plan to reduce fecal bacteria concentrations in the Nooksack River watershed. This 2019-2020 TCG annual report summarizes second year project activities and focuses on three of the watershed's transborder sub-basins.

History of food web found in harbor seal skulls
Tiny bone samples show that seals alter their diets as conditions change. The findings could help scientists understand whether seals are contributing to local salmon declines.

Probing for answers to control seal populations
Last month's federal authorization to kill more than 700 sea lions to protect salmon runs along the Columbia River is prompting discussions of similar actions for harbor seals in Puget Sound. But experts say the situations are very different with many unanswered questions.

Causes of mortality in marine-foraging river otters
North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) inhabit inland freshwater environments; however, from Alaska to California they also occur in coastal marine waters where they forage on a variety of marine fish and invertebrates. Little is known about mortality factors in marine-foraging river otters. Among 30 otter carcasses collected in San Juan County, Washington, analysis indicates that car collisions and gunshots were the most common causes of mortality.

Salish Sea Currents yearly report 2020
We have published a yearly round-up of stories from our magazine Salish Sea Currents. The 2020 edition focuses on the impact of climate change on the Salish Sea and includes a special section on the effect of global warming on infectious diseases in the ecosystem.

Disease may play significant role in salmon declines
Few environment problems in the Salish Sea have been studied more than the steep decline in salmon populations. But one potential contributor to these declines has gained less attention. Scientists say infectious disease may play a wider role than previously understood.
'The blob' revisited: Marine heat waves and the Salish Sea
Years after the appearance of the devastating marine heat wave known as "the blob," scientists are still working to understand how it has affected the Salish Sea. In some ways, they say, it is like the blob never left.

Whose Puget Sound?: Examining place attachment, residency, and stewardship in the Puget Sound region
A 2020 article in the journal Geographical Review examines the current status of place attachment among Puget Sound residents in connection with environmental stewardship behaviors. The authors challenge often-touted negative perceptions of the region’s newcomers and conclude that residents, new and old, share a strong positive place attachment and sense of pro-environmental stewardship.

Orcas without borders
The Salish Sea’s endangered southern resident orcas travel freely across the U.S.-Canada border, unconstrained by political boundaries. But while they don’t require passports, they can still face differing policies and conditions as they go back and forth between nations. We look at some of the ways that the United States and Canada compare in their efforts to protect the whales.

Seawall removal reaps benefits of Elwha recovery
The Elwha River has become famous as the site of the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. Several years ago, scientists began knocking down another barrier about a mile away from the river's delta. They removed a large seawall along the Salish Sea shoreline and discovered that sediment from the dam removal had huge benefits for their project.

Prey-related asphyxiation in harbor porpoises
A paper published in the journal Oceans in 2020 describes cases of prey-related asphyxiation in harbor porpoises along the U.S. West Coast. The findings suggest that a majority of cases involve non-native American shad and that asphyxiation tends to occur more with reproductively active females than other age and sex classes.

Fungal disease a rising concern for local marine mammals
A 2020 paper published in Frontiers in Marine Science describes details of the fungal disease Mucormycosis which has caused the death of harbor porpoises, harbor seals and one orca in Puget Sound in recent years. The authors discuss the implications for local marine mammals, specifically the endangered southern resident killer whale population.

How to plan a clam garden
The revival of an Indigenous aquaculture practice has come to the southern Salish Sea. Clam gardens could help First Nations in British Columbia and Washington state address issues of climate change and food sustainability.

A seed bank for the sea
Identifying kelp stocks that are tolerant of warmer waters could help the Salish Sea’s iconic underwater forests survive climate change.

New Seattle seawall improves migratory pathway for young salmon
Design innovations at the new seawall along Seattle's waterfront could inspire improvements for other shoreline structures around Puget Sound. They may even encourage broader regulatory changes that enhance habitat for migrating salmon and other species.

Delicious and now endangered: Can the pinto abalone make a comeback?
The pinto abalone was a popular sport catch for divers in the Salish Sea until its numbers plummeted to near extinction. Now, the delicious marine snail is on the endangered species list and the focus of an ambitious hatchery and replanting program. A broad coalition of partners has released more than 20,000 young pintos into the wild with the hope that the population will start to rebound.

Search for invasive green crab continues during pandemic
The state's stay-at-home order has halted much of the field research that would normally be underway in Puget Sound this spring, but a small group of scientists and volunteers have been able to continue their search for an invading marauder along the shoreline. Their work has been classified as critical by the state.