All Articles
Puget Sound Marine Waters 2024 Overview
Since 2011, the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program has released the annual Puget Sound Marine Waters Overview report. The latest report combines a wealth of data from comprehensive monitoring programs and provides a concise summary of what was happening in Puget Sound’s marine waters during 2024. The report represents the collective effort of contributors from federal, tribal, state, and
Field notes: Sightings of marbled murrelets in Commencement Bay
Marbled murrelets are a rare sight in Puget Sound. The threatened birds have declined severely in California, Oregon, and Washington, and biologists are intrigued by their summer presence in Commencement Bay.
With one mystery solved, researchers examine new strategies for sea star recovery
Knowing the cause of sea star wasting disease allows scientists to look for ways to increase resilience among the ravaged sea star population.
2009 Puget Sound Georgia Basin Ecosystem Conference abstracts and biographies
The 2009 Puget Sound Georgia Basin Ecosystem Conference took place February 8–11, 2009 in Seattle, Washington.
Oxygen for life: Understanding how low dissolved oxygen in Puget Sound affects marine ecosystems
A 2025 report from the University of Washington Puget Sound Institute compiles a series of articles and overviews describing the impacts of nutrients on dissolved oxygen in Puget Sound.
Cuvier's beaked whale
Cuvier’s beaked whales are the most commonly stranded beaked whale along the outer coasts of Oregon and Washington. Although typically a creature of deep water, beaked whales have been documented in the Salish Sea at least once in the last fifty years, although which species was swimming in Puget Sound was not clear.
Northern fur seal
Adult northern fur seals spend more than 300 days per year (about 80 percent of their time) at sea. During the summer and autumn they intermittently fast while on land and feed at sea. During the winter and spring they are pelagic, occupying the North Pacific Ocean as well as the Bering and Okhotsk Seas. Northern fur seals are considered rare in the Salish Sea, and there have been 93 confirmed
Bull trout and estuary use in Puget Sound
The following article describes how both adult and juvenile bull trout use estuaries in Puget Sound and includes text from two previously published overviews on the subject by University of Washington biologist Thomas P. Quinn.
The role of estuaries in the ecology of Pacific salmon and trout in Puget Sound
Two comprehensive reports describe adult and juvenile salmonid use of estuaries in Puget Sound.