"> Shoreline bulkheads, which can damage beaches and destroy fish habitat, could come under more extensive review and permitting as the result of a revised shoreline policy announced last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The revised policy (PDF 163 kb), which resulted from a federal lawsuit, now requires a Corps of Engineers permit […]
February 20, 2020
"> New fishing rules increase limits on warm-water fish to indirectly help orcas
In an effort to protect young salmon from predation, new fishing rules will allow anglers to double their catch of some warm-water predatory fish found in 77 lakes across Washington state. Reducing the population of salmon-eating bass, catfish and walleye is one of many ideas promoted by the governor’s Southern Resident Orca Task Force, which […]
February 6, 2020
"> New report describes anticipated climate-change effects in Washington state
Early effects of a warming Earth have reached Washington state, as we can see from actual measurements. Annual snowpack is declining in the mountains; ancient glaciers are shrinking; sea levels are rising; and coastal waters are becoming less hospitable to sea life. These are some of the changes outlined in a new easy-to-read briefing report […]
January 30, 2020
"> Missing orca named ‘Mega’ lived a long, productive life, says Ken Balcomb
A 43-year-old male orca named Mega, now missing and presumed dead, was one of the first new calves that researcher Ken Balcomb spotted when he began his extensive census of Southern Resident killer whales back in 1976. Ken didn’t know it at the time, but the baby orca — one of nine born in 1977 […]
January 30, 2020
Shoreline monitoring toolbox webinar
Re-posted from the Habitat Strategic Initiative blog: Please join the Habitat Strategic Initiative for a webinar on Thursday, February 13th at 12pm Join the [pugetsoundestuary.wa.gov]Habitat Strategic Initiative for a webinar highlighting the results of one of our investments that is advancing progress on the Shoreline Armoring Implementation Strategy, Shoreline Monitoring Toolbox Protocol Implementation and Data […]
January 30, 2020
PSI is hiring a GIS Specialist
–The position has been filled– The Puget Sound Institute at the University of Washington is seeking a GIS Specialist to work on geospatially explicit tasks relating to the regional strategy to restore and recover valued components of the Puget Sound ecosystem. These include data acquisition, development, maintenance, mapping, and basic geospatial analysis. The position is […]
January 29, 2020
"> How air pollution becomes water pollution with long-term effects on Puget Sound
When thinking of air pollution, I used to think only of breathing toxic chemicals into our lungs, with uncertain health effects. That’s bad enough, but air pollution — which is everywhere — is also getting into our waterways and penetrating deep into our food webs. Rivers, lakes and Puget Sound, no body of water escapes […]
January 22, 2020
New technique casts a wide net for concerning chemicals
By Sarah McQuate, UW News Scientists are working to identify which of the thousands of chemicals that flow into Puget Sound are most harmful to the environment. Researchers know that runoff from land in the urbanized areas of Puget Sound often contains harmful chemicals such as PCBs, but many other potentially dangerous compounds have gone […]
January 22, 2020
"> Partnership explores revised measures of Puget Sound health, as 2020 deadline arrives
It is the year 2020. You could say that the time has run out for restoring Puget Sound to a healthy condition. But time marches on. When the Legislature created the Puget Sound Partnership in 2007, lawmakers included this sentence in state law: “It is the goal of the state that the health of Puget […]
January 21, 2020
PSI is hiring a postdoc for a water quality modeling project
The Puget Sound Institute (PSI) is looking for an early-career research scientist or engineer to contribute to a collaborative project modeling the sources, movements, and fates of toxic chemicals in the Salish Sea. In this position you will be responsible for aggregating, evaluating, and interpreting large monitoring data sets to support the development of a […]