Month: December 2021

Ecology, EPA now under the gun to adopt new water quality criteria for aquatic creatures

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Long delays in updating state water-quality standards to protect orcas, fish and other aquatic species appear to have finally caught up with the Washington Department of Ecology and its federal counterpart, the Environmental Protection Agency. In a court ruling this week, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman of Seattle found that Ecology has “abdicated its duties” to update certain water-quality standards, as required by the federal Clean Water Act. Meanwhile, she said, EPA has failed to meet its legal oversight obligations to ensure that adequate water-quality standards are protective of aquatic […]

Job opening: Research scientist/engineer 2

The University of Washington Puget Sound Institute is located at the Center for Urban Waters on Tacoma's Thea Foss Waterway.
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The Puget Sound Institute is seeking a highly motivated researcher with a background in interdisciplinary environmental science, marine/aquatic resource management, or conservation planning and experience connecting science to policy. The position is housed at the Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma, Washington, and is expected to work on campus but may be eligible for partial teleworking. Preferred start date is January 2022, and the position is funded through December 2023. This position will support a project funded by the Puget Sound National Estuary Program’s Habitat Strategic Initiative. The primary focus […]

Understanding the cold-water needs of salmon and helping them to survive

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Salmon need cold water. This general statement is something I’ve been hearing since I first began reporting on these amazing migrating fish years ago. Cold water is a fact of life for salmon, known for their long travels up and down streams, out to saltwater and back. But colder is not always better. Questions about why salmon need cold water and how their habitat might grow too warm or too cold led me into an in-depth reporting project. I ended up talking to some of the leading experts on the […]

Modeling “the blob” in the Salish Sea

Map showing a marine heat wave known as "the blob" which spread across the northeastern Pacific Ocean from 2014 to 2016. Image: Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory, Data: Coral Reef Watch
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In late 2013, a marine heatwave that scientists dubbed “the blob” began warming the ocean throughout the Northeast Pacific, causing temperatures to rise almost 3°C above normal. The disruption severely depressed salmon returns. Whales, sea lions and seabirds starved, and warm water creatures were suddenly being spotted off the coast of Alaska. In Puget Sound, temperatures also jumped, but the effects of the blob here proved difficult to study because of the natural variability of the Salish Sea and the heavy influence of freshwater mixing and circulation in the waterbody. Recently, computer simulations from our partners at the Salish Sea Modeling […]

Science during the year of Covid: The Puget Sound Marine Waters Overview

Puget Sound Marine Waters Overview 2020
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While Covid restrictions remain a part of everyday life, a lot has eased since the global quarantines of spring 2020. During that time, the coronavirus effectively shut down scientific fieldwork in Puget Sound, leaving huge gaps in data for most facets of the ecosystem, from orcas to eelgrass. Despite the lockdowns, a new report from the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program offers an assessment of marine conditions during 2020 and paints a surprisingly complete picture of the local environment at that time. This is the tenth year that the group […]