Blog Posts

Underwater sensors for monitoring sea life (and where to find them)

12/14/2018

UW News

Paul Gibbs, a mechanical engineer at the UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory, inspects the newest Adaptable Monitoring Package, or AMP, before a test in a saltwater pool. AMPs host a series of sensors that allow researchers to continuously monitor animals underwater.

Harvesting power from the ocean, through spinning underwater turbines or bobbing wave-energy converters, is an emerging frontier in renewable energy.

New tool lets citizens help reveal toxic cause of salmon death

10/30/2018

The WSU Insider -

Salmon exposed to toxic stormwater runoff can die in a matter of hours, and scientists are asking for Puget Sound area residents’ help in identifying affected streams to study the phenomenon.

Closing the High Seas to Fishing Probably Won’t Hurt Global Food Security

9/12/2018

Hakai Magazine-

Recent research suggests a ban would have minimal effect on global food security, but some scientists think the case isn’t so clear cut.

800,000 more farmed Atlantic salmon coming to Puget Sound before industry’s permits expire

8/31/2018

The Seattle Times-

The juvenile fish will be places in pens this fall, more than a year after thousands of fish escaped rom a Cooke Aquaculture facility.

How Saving Southern California’s Steelhead Trout Could Also Help the State’s Watersheds

8/10/2018

The Relevator-

A coalition of public and private entities hopes to revive both fish and water supplies in a hotter, drier climate.

Can saving an endangered fish help heal some of California’s regional water woes? Masses of steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) once migrated freely between the sea and river headwaters along the California coast. That began to change about a century ago as dams, stream realignments, bridges, invasive species and degraded estuaries all took their toll on steelhead, putting this intriguing member of the salmon family on a path toward near-extinction.

Does the moon hold the key to the earth’s energy needs?

7/12/2018

The Guardian-

Tidal power is the only renewable source derived from the moon. Now an extraordinary array of devices promise to unlock this vital energy potential. Using giant kites, blades and paddles, and mimicking pogo sticks, blowholes and even the human heart, groups around the world are on the cusp of harnessing the colossal power of the oceans.

Opening the black box: What’s killing Puget Sound’s salmon and steelhead?

6/29/2018

University of Washington-

An intensive research program in the U.S. and Canada is studying why so few salmon in the Salish Sea are returning home to spawn. They are uncovering a complex web of problems involving predators, prey and other factors that put salmon at risk as they migrate to the ocean. We begin a four-part series on the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project, including new findings presented at the 2018 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference last spring in Seattle.

Supreme Court tie favors Indian tribes in Washington state culvert fight

6/11/2018

Seattle Times-

At issue is whether Washington state must fix or replace hundreds of culverts, large pipes that allow streams to pass beneath roads but can block migrating salmon if they become clogged or if they're too steep to navigate.

Arctic Sea Ice Is Getting Younger. Here Is Why That Is a Problem.

5/30/2018

Scientific American-

Young, thin sea ice melts faster, putting Arctic ecosystems in danger. When it comes to sea ice, old age can be a good thing. So it’s troubling to researchers that older layers of Arctic sea ice—which have persisted for multiple years in a row—are increasingly melting away.

Extinction could be a hot summer away for the little red fish of Lake Sammamish

5/15/2018

KUOW-

A little red fish that calls Lake Sammamish home is swimming desperately close to extinction. Officials are embarking on emergency measures to keep the fish known as kokanee from disappearing from the lake, and King County, forever

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