Custom Species Lists
The following list is based on a compilation by Gaydos and Pearson (2011), first published in Northwestern Naturalist no. 92 (2011): 79-94. The authors write that the list “serves as a foundation for determining the occurrence of new species and the disappearance of others, enables selection of species as indicators for ecosystem health, and also provides a basis for identifying the mechanisms responsible for marine bird and mammal declines.” The Salish Sea is defined as the coastal zone including Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and covers 16,925 km2 from Olympia, WA to Campbell River, in British Columbia.
The species on this list were identified using sighting and stranding data and scientific surveys, including the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program (PSAMP) and the British Columbia Coastal Waterbird Survey. The list includes species that reside in the Salish Sea year-round as well as species that are rarely found there but depend on the marine ecosystem. For example, the savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) nests in salt marsh habitat.
The researchers found that of the 172 bird and 37 mammal species they identified, 42% of birds and 78% of mammals are highly dependent on the marine ecosystem. This means that the remaining 58% of birds and 22% of mammals rely on both the terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and it is crucial for restoration efforts to consider how closely those ecosystems are intertwined. Ongoing documentation, the scientists added, will surely result in additional species being included on this list, which should be considered a starting point rather than a comprehensive summary.
Salish Sea-reliant mammals
- Castor canadensis - (American Beaver)
- Ursus americanus - (American Black Bear)
- Neovison vison - (American Mink)
- Berardius bairdii - (Baird's Beaked Whale)
- Tursiops truncatus - (Bottlenose Dolphin)
- Ursus arctos - (Brown Bear)
- Balaenoptera brydei - (Bryde's Whale)
- Zalophus californianus - (California Sea Lion)
- Balaenoptera acutorostrata - (Common Minke Whale)
- Ondatra zibethicus - (Common Muskrat)
- Ziphius cavirostris - (Cuvier's Beaked Whale)
- Phocoenoides dalli - (Dall's Porpoise)
- Pseudorca crassidens - (False Killer Whale)
- Balaenoptera physalus - (Fin Whale)
- Eschrichtius robustus - (Gray Whale)
- Phocoena phocoena - (Harbor Porpoise)
- Phoca vitulina - (Harbor Seal)
- Mesoplodon carlhubbsi - (Hubbs' Beaked Whale)
- Megaptera novaeangliae - (Humpback Whale)
- Orcinus orca - (Killer Whale)
- Delphinus capensis - (Long-beaked Common Dolphin)
- Odocoileus hemionus - (Mule Deer)
- Lontra canadensis - (North American River Otter)
- Mirounga angustirostris - (Northern Elephant Seal)
- Callorhinus ursinus - (Northern Fur Seal)
- Lissodelphis borealis - (Northern Right Whale Dolphin)
- Lagenorhynchus obliquidens - (Pacific White-sided Dolphin)
- Kogia breviceps - (Pygmy Sperm Whale)
- Procyon lotor - (Raccoon)
- Vulpes vulpes - (Red Fox)
- Grampus griseus - (Risso's Dolphin)
- Enhydra lutris - (Sea Otter)
- Delphinus delphis - (Short-beaked Common Dolphin )
- Globicephala macrorhynchus - (Short-finned Pilot Whale)
- Mesoplodon stejnegeri - (Stejneger's Beaked Whale)
- Eumetopias jubatus - (Steller Sea Lion)
- Stenella coeruleoalba - (Striped Dolphin)