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Biologist and science writer Eric Wagner recently returned from a trip to observe pigeon guillemots on Protection Island. He wonders: How much do we really know about the health of seemingly abundant bird populations?

This article was originally published by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of its annual report Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington.  

Land cover conversion through human development was listed as a leading cause of ecosystem decline in the 2014 Puget Sound Pressures Assessment, a document supported by the Environmental Protection Agency and prepared by more than 60 of the region's scientists. 

Could recent declines in Puget Sound herring be linked to decreases in native eelgrass? Biologist Tessa Francis reports on a new study that may provide insight into the health of one of the region's most iconic forage fish.

The restoration of eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) is a high priority for Puget Sound ecosystem recovery. In 2011, the State of Washington set a restoration target to increase eelgrass abundance by 20% in Puget Sound by 2020. Locating areas to restore eelgrass effectively and efficiently has been challenging for researchers. A 2018 article in the journal Restoration Ecology reports on efforts to identify potential restoration sites using simulation modeling, a geodatabase for spatial screening, and test planting. 

This paper describes a multi-year effort testing whether shoreline enhancements at the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle have improved conditions for fish and invertebrates as compared to armored shorelines.

While several shark species are observed more frequently off the coast of Washington than in Puget Sound, some are seen on rare occasions in the inland waterways. Detailed information on these sharks is limited, but the same thing might have been said for sixgills, sevengills and soupfin sharks until recent discoveries opened the door to new research. Part five of our series on Puget Sound's sharks outlines some of our region's lesser known shark species. The following information comes from various sources, including fishing and scuba diving reports, scientific studies and the book “Fishes of the Salish Sea” by Theodore Pietsch and James Orr.

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.