What can one of the world’s largest gatherings of rhinoceros auklets tell us about the health of the Salish Sea? Get the inside scoop on the remote and often enigmatic seabirds of Protection and Destruction Islands. Author Eric Wagner will be on stage with seabird biologist Peter Hodum for a live conversation on May 13 […]
March 17, 2026
Nature assessment describes both peril and promise, as humans relate to the natural world
The past, present and future of natural conditions in the United States are described in a new report, which has traveled a bumpy road to its current draft form, now out for public review and comment. “The Nature Record,” originally titled the “National Nature Assessment,” was launched in 2022 as a government project — the […]
September 30, 2025
What is driving ongoing contamination in Commencement Bay?
Despite more than four decades of a Superfund cleanup along Tacoma’s industrial Tideflats, research suggests that large amounts of toxic chemicals like PCBs and PBDEs may still be entering the waterway. Our affiliates at the Center for Urban Waters are co-leading a new project to identify contaminant hotspots. When it was first designated in 1983, […]
December 17, 2024
Meet PSI’s Hershman Fellows
Jessica Clemens As a Hershman Fellow at Puget Sound Institute, Jessica Clemens is researching how metabolomics can be used to better understand the impacts of anthropogenic contaminants on aquatic organisms. Her project focuses on data from long-term studies on shellfish in Puget Sound. Areas of interest include how reproduction is altered by the presence of contaminants, […]
December 11, 2024
$1 million awarded for new approach to removing PBDEs from municipal wastewater
The University of Washington has been awarded a $1 million grant by the Stormwater Strategic Initiative Lead for Piloting Solutions for Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Wastewater. The project will be led by Heidi Gough, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences and Andy James, University of Washington Tacoma, Center for Urban Waters and the Puget […]
November 18, 2024
Mysterious sharks gain recognition as scientists explore their contributions to Puget Sound
This past summer, two science papers documented, for the first time, the presence of two species of sharks not known to exist in Puget Sound. These species are commonly called sevengill and soupfin sharks. I am sorry to say that I did not know much about sharks in Puget Sound, and I had never written […]
August 14, 2024
Gauging threats to kelp and eelgrass
The Puget Sound Institute and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are leading a spatially explicit risk assessment of the current and future threats to eelgrass and floating kelp habitats in Puget Sound. The findings can be used to evaluate the distribution of burdens associated with habitat risk and inform management actions. As part […]
March 28, 2024
Ask a scientist: Are human-derived hormones like estrogen harming fish in Puget Sound?
Hormones such as estrogens that humans create in their own bodies are entering Puget Sound through wastewater, raising concerns about their effects on fish and other wildlife. We spoke with Puget Sound Institute scientist Maya Faber about how environmental exposure to human-derived estrogen can alter the reproductive cycles of male and female fish. The effects […]
December 14, 2023
Survey looks at public knowledge of estuaries
“An estuary is a partially enclosed, coastal water body where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the ocean.” – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Think of it as Puget Sound’s secret recipe. Fill a large glacier-carved basin with salt water from the ocean. Add fresh water from some adjoining rivers. Stir vigorously. […]
November 8, 2023
Puget Sound ecosystem holding on, but recovery remains uncertain, says latest status report
Efforts to restore ecological health to Puget Sound have largely failed to meet recovery goals, yet fish and wildlife populations are still hanging on, according to a new report that describes many struggling populations as neither increasing nor decreasing to a significant extent. The latest State of the Sound report, released last week by the […]