Category: Reports

Risk of a major oil spill generates action in Olympia

Close up of oil on water collected behind an oil boom. Photo: WA Department of Ecology (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/2f25AiG
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This week, our magazine Salish Sea Currents takes an in-depth look at ongoing legislative activity to prevent oil spills in Puget Sound. PSI senior writer Christopher Dunagan reports on the push to adopt new rules to counter-balance the increasing risks of tanker collisions and potential catastrophic spills. Among the concerns: About 1,300 tanker ships, of all types, pass through Puget Sound every year. That number is expected to rise, and the greatest increases are anticipated in Haro Strait and Boundary Pass — the traditional feeding grounds for Puget Sound endangered orcas. One […]

Do financial incentives motivate farmers to conserve land?

Riparian buffers are strips of trees and shrubs along stream sides. They filter nutrients and chemicals, shade and protect the stream, and provide habitat for birds, insects and fish. Photo courtesy of USDA.
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Occasionally, this space includes reports and essays from guest writers on the subject of Puget Sound ecosystem recovery. Today’s guest blog is from Mollie Chapman, who received funding from the Puget Sound Institute in 2013 to study how financial incentives influence decisions by farmers to conserve ecologically important land. By Mollie Chapman Would you undertake conservation practices on your land when offered financial incentives? New research shows that financial incentives facilitate, but rarely motivate farmers. Instead, their values and relationships were key. Sustainable food systems require the involvement of those […]

Test your herring knowledge

Puget Sound herring eggs on seaweed. Margaret Siple/University of Washington
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By Jeff Rice One of the first steps in protecting any species is understanding as much as you can about it. When it comes to Pacific herring in the Salish Sea, much is known but until recently many of the key scientific findings about the species had not been gathered together in a single place. A new state of the knowledge report published by the Puget Sound Institute and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is a step toward remedying that. The report, “Assessment and Management of Salish Sea […]

Orca task force releases recommendations

Southern resident killer whale breaching. Image courtesy of NOAA
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By Jeff Rice The governor’s Southern Resident Orca Task Force released its final report and recommendations today, focusing on three key threats to Puget Sound’s endangered orcas: Lack of food, disturbance from noise and vessel traffic, and toxic contaminants. In all, the report makes 36 recommendations for recovering the fast-declining orca population, which now stands at 74 animals. “The extinction of these orcas would be an unacceptable loss,” reads the report, which identifies a wide variety of potential actions that will require extensive funding and long-term commitment on the part of […]

The state could be revising its Puget Sound ‘Vital Signs’

Puget Sound Vital Signs wheel
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By Jeff Rice The Puget Sound Partnership is re-evaluating the way it measures the health of Puget Sound. A newly published study could greatly expand the Partnership’s portfolio of Vital Signs, a collection of health indicators for the Puget Sound ecosystem that have been central to state and federal funding and planning. A key goal of the state’s Puget Sound recovery strategy has been to identify and focus on the most critical areas of concern for the ecosystem. The Partnership, the state agency coordinating the effort, has officially adopted 47 […]

Are low flows changing in Puget Sound streams?

Issaquah Creek. Photo courtesy of Nicholas Georgiadis.
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A 2018 report from Nicholas Georgiadis at the University of Washington Puget Sound Institute analyzes the effect of rainfall and human-caused factors on regional summer stream flows. The report is available on the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.

Study would explore changes to protections for seals and sea lions

Harbor Seals sunning on intertidal rocks of Puget Sound. Photo: Tony Cyphert (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/tony717/14630242564
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As wildlife managers work to recover Puget Sound’s diminished Chinook population, a proposed white paper is expected to review the impacts of some of the salmon’s chief predators. The study would include a section on potential management of seals and sea lions, prompting open discussion of a long taboo subject: Could officials seek to revise the Marine Mammal Protection Act — or even conduct lethal or non-lethal removal of seals and sea lions in some cases? Such actions are hypothetical, but we look at some of the ongoing discussions around […]

Local actions highlight ocean acidification report

Ocean Acidification: From Knowledge to Action - Washington State's Strategic Response (report cover)
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By Christopher Dunagan, Puget Sound Institute The dangers of ocean acidification — an intrinsic feature of climate change — are coming early to Washington state, causing measurable harm to sea life, according to a new report that outlines a state strategy for pushing back against the problem. The report, titled “Ocean Acidification: from knowledge to action,” updates and expands upon strategies first developed in 2012 by the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification. “Ocean acidification threatens Washington shellfish, fisheries industries, and the coastal communities that depend on them,” […]

The State of the Sound: Looking ahead to 2020

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By Jeff Rice, Puget Sound Institute Ten years ago, then-governor Christine Gregoire set an ambitious goal to clean up Puget Sound by 2020. The talk of that time is still familiar. Puget Sound was in trouble then as it is now. Our resident orcas had diminished to dangerously low numbers and contaminants like PCBs and stormwater were well-known threats to the ecosystem. Now, with 2020 less than three years away, we are learning that Puget Sound faces even more extensive problems than Governor Gregoire may have imagined. Ocean acidification was […]

‘Bold actions’ to save Puget Sound salmon gain qualified support

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The Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council wants the opportunity to clarify the meaning of a new tribal proposal. By Christopher Dunagan, Puget Sound Institute Native American tribes in the Puget Sound region are calling for “bold actions” to reverse the decline of Puget Sound Chinook salmon, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Such actions would include: — Protecting all remaining salmon habitat in and around Puget Sound with more consistent and enforceable land-use regulations; — Preventing water uses that would limit salmon recovery; — Improving management of predators, […]

New report shows high impact of toxic pollution on the Salish Sea

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A new report about toxics in the Salish Sea brings together findings from over 40 research programs and includes case studies of Chinook salmon, shellfish and killer whales, among other species: The report from the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program and co-edited by PSI’s Andy James highlights trends for toxics during 2016. While some of the news was positive, such as gradual declines in contaminants in sediments, much of the report shows severe and continuing impacts from a wide variety of harmful chemicals. Already threatened species such as Chinook salmon may be especially […]

Special report for Puget Sound policymakers

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It used to seem easier to spot the polluters. There were the usual suspects: Industrial pipes pumped toxic chemicals into the water; dams blocked the way for salmon; natural resources were over-harvested. Those problems still persist, but ecosystem management in Puget Sound has become increasingly complicated since the 1970s and 1980s. Scientists now recognize that what happens on the land is intricately tied to the health of the water. We face climate change and unprecedented population growth, and scientists have identified thousands of different human-caused pressures on the ecosystem. The […]