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Hitting a wall: Can we fix Puget Sound’s beaches?
New numbers show progress in the state’s efforts to remove shoreline armoring, but they don’t tell the whole story.
![Bay Mussels (Mytilus trossulus) on Edmonds Ferry Dock. Photo [cropped]: brewbooks (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/8840874065](/sites/default/files/styles/article_landing_page_image/public/topical_article/images/8840874065_da3b29ce56_crop_1200.jpg?itok=npjybrbF "Bay Mussels (Mytilus trossulus) on Edmonds Ferry Dock. Photo [cropped]: brewbooks (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/8840874065")
Salish Sea snapshots: Mussel memory
Scientists are testing ways to use transplanted shellfish such as mussels to monitor toxic contaminants in Puget Sound.
Salish Sea snapshots: Invasive species and human health
Invasive species are considered a top threat to the balance of ecosystems worldwide. New discoveries of non-native green crabs in Puget Sound have highlighted that concern here at home, but invasive species can impact more than just the food web. Some introduced species can produce toxins that accumulate in shellfish or by directly infecting the human body.
Eyes Over Puget Sound: Surface Conditions Report – September 26, 2016
September is jellyfish season and they are everywhere in southern Puget Sound! Sunny, warm, and dry conditions promoted strong late-summer plankton blooms in colors of red, green, and brown, now widespread in many bays. In contrast, Central Sound looks clear with low algal activity. Southern Puget Sound has large floating mats of organic material and developed lower oxygen in August. Meet the
2015 Puget Sound Marine Waters Overview
The Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program released its fifth annual Marine Waters Overview this week. The report provides an assessment of marine conditions for the year 2015 and includes updates on water quality as well as status reports for select plankton, seabirds, fish and marine mammals.
- Algae
- Circulation
- Climate change
- Disease
- Eutrophication
- Forage fish
- Harbor porpoise
- Harmful algal blooms
- Hypoxia
- Marine birds
- Marine habitat
- Marine Waters Overview
- Monitoring
- Reports
- Salmonids
- Selected publications
- Sewage and fecal pollution
- Shellfish
- Species and food webs
- Stormwater
- Water quality
- Water quantity
- Estuaries
- Nearshore habitat
- Freshwater habitat
Second invasive green crab found in Puget Sound
Another European green crab has been spotted in Puget Sound prompting concern that the species may gain a foothold in the region.
Salish Sea snapshots: Plastics in fish may also affect seabirds
Sand lance in parts of British Columbia are ingesting small pieces of plastic that may be passed through the food web.
The return of the pig
After an almost complete collapse in the 1970s, harbor porpoise populations in Puget Sound have rebounded. Scientists are celebrating the recovery of the species sometimes known as the "puffing pig."
Clam hunger
Social scientists around the Salish Sea are predicting the effects of environmental change through the lens of culturally important foods.
A comparative study of human well-being indicators across three Puget Sound regions
A 2016 paper in the journal Society and Natural Resources looks at the creation of human well-being indicators across three regions in the Puget Sound watershed. The author suggests that overarching domains for these indictors might be applied more broadly in other environmental contexts.