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New online magazine focuses on the stories behind Puget Sound recovery efforts

“Making Waves,” a new online magazine from the Puget Sound Partnership, promises to bring us the stories behind the many efforts to protect and restore the Puget Sound ecosystem.
The first issue of “Making Waves” — published this week — contains five stories. Jon Bridgman, communications manager, conceived of the magazine format and pushed the idea forward.
“This was Jon’s brainchild; he believes in the power of storytelling,” said Laura Blackmore, executive director of the Partnership, a state agency created by the Legislature to coordinate the ongoing recovery of Puget Sound.
The idea for a new magazine grew out of the successful storytelling incorporated into last year’s “State of the Sound” document — a legally mandated status report about ecological changes throughout Puget Sound.
[iframe align=”right” width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/27jimS0QtoI”%5D
I asked Laura about the name “Making Waves,” as I read her the definition from the Cambridge Dictionary: “To be very active so that other people notice you, often in a way that intentionally causes trouble.”
“Yes, good trouble,” Laura said, laughing. “Like John Lewis, we want to cause good trouble. We want people to think deeply about Puget Sound recovery and to get involved, pushing for the policy changes and the funding we need to accomplish the goal of Puget Sound recovery.”
“Good trouble,” of course, is the oft-quoted phrase of the late civil rights leader John Lewis, who died this year while serving as a Georgia congressman for the past 33 years.
“Making waves,” Laura said, has multiple meanings, all of which could be applied to the magazine, which is being funded by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, one of several major financial supporters of the agency.
“Making Waves: Stories from the people protecting and recovering Puget Sound” includes within its first edition stories about:

The first story was written by Carrie Byron, program manager for PSAR. The other four are by Kevin Hyde, a writer in the Communications Program at the Partnership.
Jon Bridgman, who oversaw the production, said five stories with original writing seems about the right number for each magazine. The next edition is tentatively scheduled for spring — about the time of Puget Sound Day on the Hill, in which state and local officials connect with federal lawmakers and policymakers in Washington, D.C.

Kelps of Puget Sound illustration was created by Andrea Dingeldein for the new “Making Waves” magazine. Click to read the story.

The last section of the online magazine includes more than 40 links to recovery partners and issues related to Puget Sound. This is a source of information that can be updated as a quick go-to place for connections to those involved in Puget Sound recovery.
Jon, who joined the Partnership during its start-up phase in 2007, headed the Partnership’s “visual communications” for many years. He created or coordinated most of the visual elements that help us understand key data and scientific findings — including the famous Vital Signs wheel. Recently, he was promoted to “communications manager.”
Jon noted that the Partnership’s central role in ecosystem recovery has led to personal connections with a vast number of people working to recover Puget Sound.
“It’s a natural fit for us to use this position to help foster communication across the network,” he told me in an email. “We hope that allowing the recovery community to look at itself, learn more about what’s going on, will promote a tighter bond and shared vision of the work we need to do to recover Puget Sound.”
He said he hopes to bring attention to smaller organizations that don’t have the resources needed to get the word out about the work they are doing. And the online publication has the potential to use the full spectrum of media, he noted.
“We helped Allen Warren turn the footage he took of last year’s Orca Recovery Day into a promotional video (shown above) for this year’s event,” Jon said. “We featured the video as a story in ‘Making Waves,’ but the video also became the main promotion for the event.”
Jon said he is also pleased with Andrea Dingeldein’s illustration of the 22 kelp species found in Puget Sound, and he believes it could be an excellent educational tool for years to come.
“We plan on working with partners and involving them in discussions of what stories might be most important to tell,” he continued. “I’d like this to start a conversation around coming to a general consensus on what messages and stories are most effective in helping the recovery community get inspired and giving them the stories/messages to increase funding or support for their projects.” Jon can be reached by email: jon.bridgman@psp.wa.gov.
Laura Blackmore said she appreciates that Jon is open to a variety of new ideas and is willing to work with various groups to get their message out.
She also told me that she is thrilled with last week’s presidential election of Joe Biden, who has vowed to support programs to improve the environment and battle against climate change.
While Congress has been fairly successful in fighting off massive funding cuts to Puget Sound programs proposed by the Trump administration, she hopes to see increased cooperation with agencies at the national level. “Right now, we have an excellent relationship with EPA Region 10, the regional office of NOAA, and the (Army) Corps of Engineers,” she said.
One major goal, she added, is to elevate Puget Sound issues to a national priority by establishing a Puget Sound Recovery National Program Office in the EPA and making permanent the Puget Sound Federal Leadership Task Force. Those provisions are part of the Puget SOS bill, which has passed the House but has been held up in the Senate.
I hope to share more information regarding Puget Sound politics in the coming weeks and months.

Scientists collect breath samples of an orca using a long pole with petri dishes attached at the end. Photo: Pete Schroeder

The Orca Docs: When should medical experts intervene to save a killer whale?

This week we present “The Orca Docs,” a two-part series from our senior writer Christopher Dunagan. The series focuses on some of the issues related to proposed medical intervention for Puget Sound’s endangered orcas.
The death of a young female orca in September has sparked a discussion of how and whether scientists should step in with medical care for distressed animals in the wild. Medical intervention has become routine for some endangered mammals, but scientists say Puget Sound’s resident orcas present a series of unique challenges and ethical questions. In part one of our series we look at how scientists are preparing to treat endangered southern resident orcas that face starvation and risks of disease. Part two examines how this has worked for other species such as mountain gorillas and whether those efforts might inspire local actions.
Part one: When should medical experts intervene to save a killer whale?
Part two: Wildlife rescues may inform orca strategies

How herring learn from their elders

Young Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) learn migration behavior by joining up with older fish, according to a new paper co-authored by Puget Sound Institute Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis. The paper, published this month in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, showed how this behavior leads to greater spatial variability in biomass, and that commercial fishing could disproportionately affect some herring populations.
Citation:
Alec D MacCall, Tessa B Francis, André E Punt, Margaret C Siple, Derek R Armitage, Jaclyn S Cleary, Sherri C Dressel, R Russ Jones, Harvey Kitka, Lynn C Lee, Phillip S Levin, Jim McIsaac, Daniel K Okamoto, Melissa Poe, Steve Reifenstuhl, Jörn O Schmidt, Andrew O Shelton, Jennifer J Silver, Thomas F Thornton, Rudi Voss, John Woodruff, Handling editor: Ken Andersen. (2018). A heuristic model of socially learned migration behaviour exhibits distinctive spatial and reproductive dynamics. ICES Journal of Marine Science. fsy091. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsy091
View the abstract. 

How herring learn from their elders

Young Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) learn migration behavior by joining up with older fish, according to a new paper co-authored by Puget Sound Institute Lead Ecosystem Ecologist Tessa Francis. The paper, published this month in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, showed how this behavior leads to greater spatial variability in biomass, and that commercial fishing could disproportionately affect some herring populations.
Citation:
Alec D MacCall, Tessa B Francis, André E Punt, Margaret C Siple, Derek R Armitage, Jaclyn S Cleary, Sherri C Dressel, R Russ Jones, Harvey Kitka, Lynn C Lee, Phillip S Levin, Jim McIsaac, Daniel K Okamoto, Melissa Poe, Steve Reifenstuhl, Jörn O Schmidt, Andrew O Shelton, Jennifer J Silver, Thomas F Thornton, Rudi Voss, John Woodruff, Handling editor: Ken Andersen. (2018). A heuristic model of socially learned migration behaviour exhibits distinctive spatial and reproductive dynamics. ICES Journal of Marine Science. fsy091. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsy091
View the abstract. 

Seals and sea lions may be slowing salmon recovery, hurting orcas

A young resident killer whale chases a chinook salmon in the Salish Sea near San Juan Island, WA. Sept 2017. Image obtained under NMFS permit #19091. Photo by John Durban (NOAA Fisheries/Southwest Fisheries Science Center), Holly Fearnbach (SR3: SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research) and Lance Barrett-Lennard (Vancouver Aquarium’s Coastal Ocean Research Institute). (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/21wV8rV
A young resident killer whale chases a chinook salmon in the Salish Sea near San Juan Island, WA. Sept 2017. Photo by John Durban (NOAA Fisheries/Southwest Fisheries Science Center), Holly Fearnbach (SR3: SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research) and Lance Barrett-Lennard (Vancouver Aquarium’s Coastal Ocean Research Institute). (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/21wV8rV

Increased consumption of Chinook salmon by seals and sea lions in the Salish Sea “could be masking the success of coastwide salmon recovery efforts,” according to a new study published this week in the journal Scientific Reports. Endangered resident orcas are said to be declining in part due to a lack of available Chinook, the orcas’ preferred prey.
Read the article by PSI senior writer Christopher Dunagan in Salish Sea Currents.

With sea-level rise, waterfront owners confront their options

A house and bulkead (circa 2013) before it was moved to make room for sea-level rise. Photo courtesy: John Vechey
A house on Orcas Island (circa 2013) before it was moved back to make room for sea-level rise. Photo courtesy: John Vechey

Climate change could cause sea levels to rise more than four feet in some parts of Puget Sound, leaving shoreline residents with some tough decisions. Experts say fighting the waves with conventional seawalls may not be the answer.
Read the story in our online magazine Salish Sea Currents

PCBs in fish remain steady while other toxics decline

English Sole (Parophrys vetulus) in Puget Sound. Photo: biodiversityguy https://biodiversityguy.smugmug.com/Underwater/Reference-List-Photos-of/i-3GgD5hB/A
English Sole (Parophrys vetulus) in Puget Sound. Photo: biodiversityguy https://biodiversityguy.smugmug.com/Underwater/Reference-List-Photos-of/i-3GgD5hB/A

A new study shows a surprising decline in some toxic chemicals in Puget Sound fish, while levels of PCBs increased in some cases. Scientists say the study shows that banning toxic chemicals can work, but old contaminants remain a challenge as they continue to wash into Puget Sound.
Read our story in Salish Sea Currents. 

Puget Sound science from A to Z

A screenshot of the EoPS homepage.
A screenshot of the EoPS homepage.

These days, you may know the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound as a news source. Our magazine stories and blogs cover science as it happens across the Salish Sea, from research on salmon recovery to toxic chemicals in the food web.
There is no other publication focusing strictly on Puget Sound science, and — we’ll be bold here — we strive to provide the best such coverage in the region. Not because we have the most stories or the biggest staff (we don’t), but because we report the news that you need to know.
We work closely with the scientists on the ground and often hear what’s happening before the major media outlets. We work hard to get the stories right, and we provide context that other publications can’t.
That context is one of the most important parts of the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. We are a news source, but we are also a resource — an encyclopedia. If you want to know how scientists and policymakers view the ecosystem and how they are working to protect it, we have organized it from A to Z.
This August, as the dog days settle over Puget Sound and forest fires rage in the distance, we’ll continue to build the encyclopedia behind the scenes. Do you want to know more about toxic algae blooms or zooplankton? How about floodplains or the impacts of shoreline armoring? There’s plenty to discover. You can use the encyclopedia in your classes. Share it with policymakers. Identify thousands of species. Find out the age of a rock fish. Scope out local beaches. The website continues to get better every day, and we are glad to bring it to you.

Are we making progress on salmon recovery?

Dean Toba, a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, operates the agency’s screw trap on the Skagit River. The trap helps biologists estimate the number of juvenile salmon leaving the river each year. Photo: Christopher Dunagan, PSI
Dean Toba, a scientific technician with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, operates the agency’s screw trap on the Skagit River. The trap helps biologists estimate the number of juvenile salmon leaving the river each year. Photo: Christopher Dunagan, PSI

In recent decades, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to restore habitat for Puget Sound salmon. This month, PSI senior writer Christopher Dunagan looks at how scientists are gauging their progress. Are environmental conditions improving or getting worse? The answer may depend on where you look and who you ask.
Read the article in Salish Sea Currents. 

Update: Killer whale miscarriages linked to low food supply

In this high-resolution image taken from a remotely operated hexacopter, a Southern Resident killer whale named Slick (J16) is about to surface with her youngest calf, Scarlet (J50). Scarlet, born in December 2014, was the first calf in the so-called “baby boom” — nine orcas born between December 2014 and January 2016. These images are used to measure the length and width of orcas within an inch or two, allowing for ongoing observations of their physical changes. Photo: NOAA Fisheries, Vancouver Aquarium under NMFS research permit and FAA flight authorization.
In this high-resolution image taken from a remotely operated hexacopter, a Southern Resident killer whale named Slick (J16) is about to surface with her youngest calf, Scarlet (J50). Scarlet, born in December 2014, was the first calf in the so-called “baby boom” — nine orcas born between December 2014 and January 2016. These images are used to measure the length and width of orcas within an inch or two, allowing for ongoing observations of their physical changes. Photo: NOAA Fisheries, Vancouver Aquarium under NMFS research permit and FAA flight authorization.

Our 2016 article “Killer whale miscarriages linked to low food supply” provided an early look at a study published this week in the journal PLOS ONE.
PSI senior writer Christopher Dunagan wrote the article based on research that was presented at the 2016 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference, and it remains a helpful summary of the newly published findings.
Scientists have found that Puget Sound’s endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales are experiencing a high rate of miscarriages in large part because they are not getting enough food. The whales depend primarily on diminished populations of Chinook salmon and this scarcity magnifies other existing threats ranging from toxic PCBs to noise pollution.
The PLOS ONE study was co-authored by Samuel K. Wasser , Jessica I. Lundin, Katherine Ayres, Elizabeth Seely, Deborah Giles, Kenneth Balcomb, Jennifer Hempelmann, Kim Parsons, and Rebecca Booth. Dunagan’s article summarizing their findings is available on the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.