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Cassells Point, Duwamish River, WA, ca. 1891. View is to the east, with streetcar bridge crossing the Duwamish River near South Park in the background. Photo credit: University of Washington Special Collections, Frank Laroche Photograph Collection.

Puget Sound River History Project

The Puget Sound River History Project at the University of Washington features historical topographic data for Puget Sound's river systems.  

Puget Sound Shoreline Parcel Segmentation Report

A 2014 report prepared by Coastal Geologic Services, Inc. examines spatial patterns in Puget Sound shoreline characteristics at the parcel-unit scale. It was developed in support of a social marketing strategy by state agencies to reduce shoreline armoring in the region.

Skeleton shrimp. Image courtesy of Dave Cowles, wallawalla.edu.

Eyes Under Puget Sound: Critter of the month – the skeleton shrimp

There are more than a half dozen species of skeleton shrimp in Puget Sound. The Washington State Department of Ecology profiles this unusual crustacean in its Eyes Under Puget Sound series. 

A harbor porpoise surfing in a boat wake in Burrows Pass, off Fidalgo Island, WA. Photo: Copyright Cindy R. Elliser, Pacific Mammal Research http://pacmam.org/

Harbor porpoises become increasing players in the Puget Sound food web

With a population growth of about 10 percent per year in inland waters, harbor porpoises are having an undetermined but growing effect on food dynamics in Puget Sound.

Southern resident killer whale breaching. Image courtesy of NOAA

Sightings of southern resident killer whales in the Salish Sea 1976−2014: the importance of a long-term opportunistic dataset

A 2018 paper in the journal Endangered Species Research analyzes southern resident killer whale sightings in the Salish Sea between 1976 and 2014. 

An orca show at Miami Seaquarium featuring southern-resident orca Lolita. Photo by Marc Averette. Avaiable through a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Ported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Miamiseaquariumlolita.jpg

Orca captures for aquariums

Between 1962 and 1973, at least 263 killer whales were caught or killed in the waters of British Columbia and Washington (Bigg and Wolman 1975). Twelve of these died during capture and fifty were kept for display in aquariums. The remainder of the captured animals escaped or were released. Twenty-seven of the whales kept as captive were taken from the population now designated as endangered

A large river delta in Puget Sound. Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project

The mosaic of deltas and other estuarine ecosystems in Puget Sound

The diversity and complexity of estuarine ecosystems is vital to the overall health of Puget Sound. This summary fact sheet focuses on the current state of these ecosystems in Puget Sound—large river deltas, embayments, their interconnecting beaches, and rocky coasts—and the historical changes that have occurred since the development of the Puget Sound coastline. Additional emphasis is placed on

Eyes Over Puget Sound: Surface Conditions Report - September 17, 2018

Eyes Over Puget Sound: Surface Conditions Report - September 17, 2018

Air temperatures have remained high with precipitation and river flows below normal, extending the summer’s unusual conditions. Water temperatures were warmer in August, perhaps too warm for bull kelp and some salmon species in South Sound. In contrast, Hood Canal, North Sound, and the San Juan Islands provide optimal growth temperatures for herring and salmon. Many terminal inlets of Puget Sound

Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii). Image courtesy of NOAA.

Pacific herring distribution in Puget Sound

Pacific herring are a pelagic fish species found from northern Baja California to northern Honshu Island, Japan. They are found throughout the Puget Sound basin and are a mix of “resident” and “migratory” stocks. 

Herring embryos. Photo courtesy of NOAA

Climate change and ocean acidification may affect herring development

New research shows that warmer and more acidic oceans could lead to shorter embryos and higher respiration in Pacific herring.