The Puget Sound Marine Waters Overview for 2014 is now available. The report is part of an annual effort from NOAA and the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program to synthesize marine conditions for the region. According to its authors, 2014 “was a year with notable departures from average.” In particular, the report provides details on the […]
September 11, 2015
In the news: Studying microplastics in Puget Sound
The publication Crosscut quotes PSI Director Joel Baker today in a story about microplastics in Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean: “The Center for Urban Waters at the University of Washington has been surveying the amount of micro-plastics and types of plastic in Puget Sound for years. The center’s lead researcher Joel Baker says they’ve been asked to […]
September 3, 2015
Puget Sound Recovery Caucus calls for greater agency cooperation
Congressman Denny Heck had a stark message for participants in today’s meeting of the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus in Tacoma. The health of the Puget Sound ecosystem “is getting worse every year faster than it is improving,” he told the group, signaling a renewed urgency for the caucus that Heck started with Congressman Derek Kilmer […]
August 26, 2015
Future scenarios for climate change in Puget Sound
The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group has published a series of projections related to the effects of climate change in Puget Sound. Among the group’s findings: Many area streams will be too warm in summers for salmon by 2080, “despite rarely being in excess of these temperatures in the recent past.” “About two-thirds of the glaciated area […]
August 23, 2015
PSI research recognized as UW Tacoma turns 25
The Tacoma News Tribune mentions the Center for Urban Waters and the Puget Sound Institute as significant contributors to UW Tacoma’s growing reputation as a research institution. Read more in the paper’s August 22nd edition.
August 13, 2015
PSI welcomes Chris Dunagan as senior science writer
We are pleased to announce that veteran journalist Chris Dunagan has joined the Puget Sound Institute as a Senior Writer. Anyone who has followed Puget Sound issues over the years will recognize Chris’s byline. As the very first environmental reporter for the Kitsap Sun, he has been a respected voice in the region for more than 25 […]
August 12, 2015
Drought offers a glimpse of the ‘new normal’
This year’s drought has prompted wide concern for Puget Sound’s salmon. Low stream flows and warmer water can prove deadly to fish, as was the case this summer for more than a million hatchery salmon in Washington and hundreds of thousands of sockeye in the Columbia River. While it is seen as an unusual water year, 2015 may actually offer […]
August 12, 2015
New papers look at ‘zombie’ steroids
They are sometimes called ‘zombie’ chemicals. Some compounds thought to be safe and inactive can change into dangerously active forms when they are exposed to the environment. Two recent papers co-authored by PSI collaborator Ed Kolodziej look at some of the ways that regulators may need to account for these transformations. Cole, EA, McBride, SA, Kimbrough, KC, Lee, J, Marchand, […]
August 10, 2015
Assessing microplastics in the world’s oceans
Our Director Joel Baker recently co-authored Microplastics in the Ocean: A Global Assessment, an international report commissioned by GESAMP (The Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection). GESAMP is an inter-Agency Body of the United Nations, comprised of a group of independent scientists providing advice to UN Agencies on a wide variety of […]
August 10, 2015
Impacts of diving ducks on herring populations
Puget Sound Institute Lead Ecologist Tessa Francis attended the 2015 meeting of the International Congress for Conservation Biology earlier this month in Montpellier, France. She presented results from her recent work with colleagues at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center evaluating the impacts on Puget Sound herring populations of herring egg predation by seabirds and other predators. […]