Advanced Search

Bryde’s whales are rarely seen in the Salish Sea, preferring warmer waters, but at least three have been documented here since 2010.

Although rare in the Salish Sea, bottlenose dolphins are among the best-studied marine mammals in the world. Sightings of live and stranded animals have been increasing in local waters for the past two decades.

Two comprehensive reports describe adult and juvenile salmonid use of estuaries in Puget Sound.

Adult northern fur seals spend more than 300 days per year (about 80 percent of their time) at sea. During the summer and autumn they intermittently fast while on land and feed at sea. During the winter and spring they are pelagic, occupying the North Pacific Ocean as well as the Bering and Okhotsk Seas. Northern fur seals are considered rare in the Salish Sea, and there have been 93 confirmed sightings of stranded animals in the state of Washington since 1982.

A 2025 report from the University of Washington Puget Sound Institute compiles a series of articles and overviews describing the impacts of nutrients on dissolved oxygen in Puget Sound.

Cuvier’s beaked whales are the most commonly stranded beaked whale along the outer coasts of Oregon and Washington. Although typically a creature of deep water, beaked whales have been documented in the Salish Sea at least once in the last fifty years, although which species was swimming in Puget Sound was not clear.

The 2009 Puget Sound Georgia Basin Ecosystem Conference took place February 8–11, 2009 in Seattle, Washington.

Knowing the cause of sea star wasting disease allows scientists to look for ways to increase resilience among the ravaged sea star population.

Marbled murrelets are a rare sight in Puget Sound. The threatened birds have declined severely in California, Oregon, and Washington, and biologists are intrigued by their summer presence in Commencement Bay.