Saving Seafood

New tagging study tracks Dungeness crab movement in Puget Sound

July 8, 2026 — State and tribal fishery managers in Washington are using a floy-tag study to track how Dungeness crab move through parts of Puget Sound, with the goal of improving how catch quotas and fishing seasons are set in areas where crab populations have struggled.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), working with the Suquamish and Jamestown tribes, has tagged and released 885 legal-size male Dungeness crab since September 2025 across Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet), Marine Area 10 (Seattle and Bremerton area) and the portion of Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal) north of Ayock Point.

In late September 2025, WDFW and the Suquamish Tribe tagged and released 555 crab across six sites in Marine Area 10, ranging from Alki Point in West Seattle north to Apple Cove Point near Kingston. As of June 25, 2026, 84 of those crab had been recaptured in recreational, state, and tribal commercial fisheries.

On June 9, 2026, WDFW and the Jamestown Tribe tagged and released another 330 crab in Marine Areas 9 and 12. Two had been recaptured as of June 25.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

WASHINGTON: WA pink salmon populations surge in some Puget Sound areas, stagnant in others

September 10, 2025 — The Puget Sound region is anticipating a substantial increase in pink salmon returns for 2025, with forecasts predicting a total of 7.76 million fish. This figure represents a 70% rise from the 10-year cycle average and is expected to be the third-largest return on record. However, some populations, like the Chinook salmon stocks, are expected to limit some salmon fisheries in the upcoming season.

The forecast marks a significant improvement from the 2023 prediction of 3.95 million, with the actual return reaching 7.22 million. The Green and Nisqually rivers are expected to see strong pink salmon returns, further contributing to the region’s positive outlook.

Dig deeper: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has responded to the promising forecast by increasing the daily limit for pink salmon in all inner-marine areas through Sept. 30 to two additional pinks. Marine Area 8–2 remains closed due to the Stillaguamish River’s inability to meet spawning escapement goals.

Read the full article at FOX 13

WASHINGTON: Kitsap part of recovery effort for two Puget Sound marine species

April 30, 2025 — Two key marine species in Puget Sound have become symbols of resilience, thanks to Kitsap-based recovery programs and a senior at Bainbridge High School.

Efforts to restore bull kelp and pinto abalone, both essential parts of the marine ecosystem in Washington, may receive a boost after state leaders in Olympia and at the Department of Fish and Wildlife highlighted recovery efforts this legislative session.

Governor Bob Ferguson signed bill HB 1631 into law, designating bull kelp as the state’s official marine forest. The text of the law is simple and does not come with additional protections for the seaweed, but that’s intentional, explained Betsy Peabody, director of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund — the idea is to create a new state symbol.

“The basic idea is to recognize bull kelp forests as part of our identity — for our state, tribes, ecosystem, economies, communities, our way of life, and really see that,” said Peabody. “Sometimes we’re so enchanted with the things that forests support and feed — the birds, the fish, the orcas, all those wonderful things — that we don’t see the forest that makes those species possible. It really was just trying to make the forests that are foundational to all these incredible marine species more visible.”

Read the full story at the Kitsap Daily News

2024 saw some good news for Pacific Northwest salmon

December 2, 2024 — Zombie kokanee tumbled downstream as new waves of crimson fish dashed through the riffles making the journey to their spawning grounds.

The creek was alive with hundreds of these landlocked sockeye amid the biggest return of the salmon in the Lake Sammamish watershed in a decade.

Just a few years ago the fish almost blinked out. But efforts by King County, the Snoqualmie Tribe and others to restore and conserve habitat and a conservation hatchery program appear to have helped pull them from the brink. 

In addition to these little red freshwater fish, some oceangoing salmon have returned in big numbers.

It started with a record run of sockeye on the Columbia River, then a record number of threatened Hood Canal Summer chum returned to the Union River, and now fall chum to Pipers Creek in Seattle.

Orca researchers observed salmon leaping from Puget Sound, possibly fueling a feeding frenzy for the endangered southern resident orcas.

It looks like it’s shaping up to be the biggest Puget Sound fall chum return in 15 or 20 years, said Kyle Adicks, intergovernmental salmon manager with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. The state has also seen strong catches and hatchery returns for coho in Puget Sound, which saw near all-time lows about a decade ago.

“It’s great to see that the salmon are still here and if things line up they can do well,” Adicks said.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Files Lawsuit Against Department of Natural Resources Over Flawed Administrative Action Banning Marine Net-Pen Aquaculture in Puget Sound

December 16, 2022 — The following was released by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe:

Today the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe took legal action to protect our Sovereign rights in response to the recent ill-informed and overreaching decision by Commissioner Hillary Franz and the Department of Natural Resources to ban sustainable marine net-pen aquaculture in Puget Sound waters.

“As a Tribe, we have always been conscientious stewards of our natural environment and look seven generations ahead in all that we do,” said W. Ron Allen, CEO and Tribal Chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam. “Modern, well-regulated aquaculture is the environmentally responsible solution for producing seafood and exercising our Tribal treaty rights – now and into the future.”

“Tragically, population growth, pollution, poor environmental protections and development activities in the Pacific Northwest have negatively impacted our wild fish stocks,” said Allen. “We must have options available to take pressure off wild fish stocks through sustainable aquaculture which will aid listed stocks to regain sustainable levels and prevent their extinction.”

A vast array of scientific studies have repeatedly shown that well-regulated aquaculture is not an ecological threat to the Puget Sound marine environment. In March 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service released an extensively researched biological opinion that studied marine finfish aquaculture in Puget Sound and found little to no negative impact on Puget Sound marine ecosystems, including native species such as endangered salmon, Orcas, or their habitat.

Farmed seafood requires the lowest energy demand of any sourced protein, a fraction of what is required to farm chicken, pork, or beef and produces far less greenhouse gas emissions than land-based agriculture. It seems only natural that Washington would embrace aquaculture as an industry that complements its own natural stock fisheries and allows our State to be a global leader in feeding the planet, and sourcing locally grown seafood in the most climate friendly way possible.

In addition to refusing to respect the science about marine net-pen aquaculture, this decision was highly undemocratic. Commissioner Franz has mistakenly usurped the authority of our Washington State Legislature to make public policy decisions, like the bipartisan bill passed in 2018 which allows native species marine net-pen farming in Washington waters.

Fish and shellfish have always been an integral part of S’Klallam culture as subsistence, as well as for the traditions associated with harvest, preparation, and celebration. For millennia, S’Klallam people fed their families with fish and shellfish, and traded their abundant harvest with other Tribes, devising methods for holding fresh catch, and preserving the harvest for future consumption. Our Tribe is desiring to take advantage of 21st century technology to advance this industry.

Food sovereignty, the ability to grow and provide one’s own food sources, builds self-reliance, independence, and confidence in our youth and community. That is all in jeopardy now due to Commissioner Franz’s announcement to end marine net-pen aquaculture in Puget Sound.

By taking legal action today, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is strongly defending its sovereign right of self-governance and self-reliance by utilizing marine net-pen aquaculture to provide traditional sustenance and guarantee Tribal food security from our established fishery in our Usual and Accustomed Treaty Area in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea.

 

NOAA Biological Opinion Concludes Marine Finfish Aquaculture Has No Adverse Impact on Salmon, Orcas, and Other Native or Endangered Species in Puget Sound

March 1, 2022 — The following was released by the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance:

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has released a biological opinion regarding marine finfish aquaculture in Puget Sound, finding little to no negative impact on native species such as endangered salmon, Orcas, or their habitat.

The NOAA analysis was initiated in October of 2018 to analyze the effects of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) approval of the Washington Department of Ecology’s Sediment Management Standards regarding marine finfish rearing facilities.

In its analysis, NOAA found that EPA’s approval:

  • Is “not likely to jeopardize the continued existence” of Puget Sound (PS) and/or Georgia Basin (GB) species, including Chinook salmon, PS steelhead, Hood Canal summer-run chum, PS/GB yelloweye rockfish, or PS/GB bocaccio.
  • Is “not likely to result in the destruction or adverse modification of the designated critical habitats for any of the listed species.”

In response to this opinion, the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance (NWAA), which advocates for the sustainable production of aquatic foods in the Pacific region, is calling on regulators and policymakers to follow the science in making key decisions regarding marine aquaculture in Washington waters.

Native Steelhead trout grown in Washington State by Cooke Aquaculture Pacific. Photo Credit: Cooke Aquaculture

“After years of meticulous research and study, the scientists at NOAA have concluded, with full scientific certainty, that net-pen aquaculture in Puget Sound is safe for the environment and safe for the endangered species that live in these waters,” said Jim Parsons, NWAA President. Parsons is also CEO of Jamestown Seafood.

“This study, along with the recent unanimous Washington Supreme Court decision upholding Cooke Aquaculture Pacific’s permit to raise native steelhead in Puget Sound, finally puts to rest one of the biggest myths of all: that fish farming has a negative impact on endangered Chinook salmon and Orcas,” Parsons said.  “As aquatic farmers, we depend on a healthy ecosystem to grow a range of aquatic food products–from steelhead trout to black cod to oysters, clams, mussels, and sea vegetables—instead of importing these foods. Sustainable aquaculture not only produces the nutritious, affordable food our world needs, but it also benefits working families in our rural communities.”

Parsons added: “Given the current world situation, it’s time for Washington to lead the way in delivering fresh, locally produced, seafood to consumers throughout the Pacific Northwest and the United States. We encourage our leaders to rely on science rather than politics or claims made by certain anti-aquaculture activist groups in making key decisions about the future of aquatic farming and the Blue Economy in Washington.”

Washington Supreme Court sides with Cooke, upholds fish-farm permit

January 14, 2022 — The Washington Supreme Court has sided with Cooke Aquaculture in a unanimous 9-0 ruling that upholds the company’s fish farming permits in the state.

The lawsuit has its origins in a five-year permit that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) granted to Cooke in January 2020, allowing the company to farm steelhead trout in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea. Soon after the permit was granted, a consortium of conservation and environmental groups including the Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) filed a lawsuit challenging the permit, claiming the department was allowing the farms without fulling considering what the impacts would be on water quality in the surrounding areas.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

How the Swinomish Are Reviving a Native Oyster and Protecting Eelgrass in Puget Sound

January 4, 2021 — The light of the October full moon bounced across the surface of Washington’s Similk Bay. Stuart Thomas stood ankle-deep in the ebbing tide, flipping black mesh bags filled with oysters.

He opened a bag and pulled out a handful of small ones, barely an inch across, shucking them quickly in the light of his headlamp. “These are Olympia oysters,” said Thomas, cheerful despite the midnight hour. The only oysters native to the state, they’re finally making a comeback after being driven nearly to extinction more than a century ago by overharvesting, habitat destruction and a commercial preference for introduced species, such as the Pacific oyster.

The flesh inside the Olympia’s shell is only the size of a quarter. It tastes sharp, briny and faintly of stone, more ancient, somehow, than the sweet and creamy Pacific oysters that are the mainstay of Washington’s farmed shellfish industry.

A self-proclaimed genetics nerd, Thomas is charged with reviving the Olympia oyster for the Swinomish Shellfish Company. The Englishman had spent years working in Washington’s commercial shellfish industry before joining the company, which is owned by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. Now he operates under a different set of rules, with a unique prime directive: Do not mess with the eelgrass beds.

“It was made clear to me early on that everything we were to do would have to be in line with protecting the environment,” said Thomas.

Less than 40 feet away from him, the eelgrass lay flat and unmoving at the water’s surface. Its stillness belied the importance it holds for the marine ecosystem in this part of the world. The grasses serve as a nursery, feeding ground and resting spot for a dizzying number of species up and down the food chain, from orcas to zooplankton, including virtually all the marine foods that Indigenous communities use.

Read the full story at Civil Eats

New Conservation Calculator Helps Protect Vital Nearshore Habitat in Puget Sound

November 16, 2021 — The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe is cleaning up and restoring past environmental degradation in Port Gamble Bay. The Tribe plans to remove an old and decrepit pier and boat launch and install a new one in a more accessible location.

Though mostly elevated, the new boat ramp and floating dock system would affect nearshore habitat. These are the rich shoreline areas where young Puget Sound Chinook salmon and steelhead put on their last growth before entering the open ocean. The impact meant that the Tribe had to work with NOAA Fisheries to assess habitat impacts using the new Puget Sound Nearshore Habitat Conservation Calculator.

NOAA Fisheries developed and introduced the Conservation Calculator last year as a science-based tool to assess the impacts of shoreline development on nearshore habitat. Nearshore developers now have two main choices. They must either:

  • Avoid or minimize the impacts of such development
  • Compensate for the impacts by restoring comparable habitat elsewhere in the same marine basin in Puget Sound, so that it benefits the same salmon populations.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries

 

Genetic Analysis Shows Beluga Whale in Puget Sound Likely Arrived from Arctic Waters

October 26, 2021 — Scientists have collected genetic material from the beluga whale that was first sighted in Puget Sound in early October. It indicates that the whale is likely from a large population of beluga whales in the Beaufort Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska.

The whale appears to have traveled thousands of miles south around Alaska through the Bering Sea and south to Puget Sound. It was last sighted on October 20 near Tacoma. The whale does not appear to be from the small and endangered Cook Inlet beluga population near Anchorage, Alaska.

The genetic analysis involved sequencing DNA extracted from a water sample collected near the beluga whale in Puget Sound earlier this month. This material is known as environmental DNA, or eDNA, because it comes from skin, fecal, or other cellular debris found in the environment near the animal.

Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries