Aquatic Life

THE NORTH SOUND area is home to extremely rich, diverse aquatic ecosystems. We’re the northernmost region of Puget Sound, which pushes into Washington State from the inland Salish Sea and is the nation’s second largest estuary by shoreline. (Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast has us beat, with a watershed that stretches through six states!) Estuaries usually occur where salty and freshwater meet, often where rivers let out into the sea, creating a brackish water.

This means that, very near to all of us, we have freshwater and saltwater wildlife, as well as organisms that thrive in the nutrient-rich and delicately balanced brackish water environments. With thousands of miles of shoreline, wetlands, lakes, and rivers, it’s no surprise our area is home to a truly boggling amount of plants and animals!

Salmon

These fresh to salt waterways are exactly what supports some of Northwestern Washington’s most famous wildlife salmon. The many rivers that are part of this watershed are the spawning grounds for the anadromous Pacific salmon, which include the species Chinook, coho, pink, sockeye, and chum. They similarly support steelhead trout, which are cousins of salmon within the family salmonidae. Being anadromous means that these fish lay their eggs in freshwater rivers, where the young hatch, grow, and eventually travel downstream to the sea for their adulthood. When it’s time, the fish return back to the rivers from whence they came to start the cycle all over again. These annual pilgrimages are known as salmon runs. They have always been, and continue to be, a vital part of the PNW’s ecosystem and ways of life.

Unfortunately, salmon runs in Washington have been noticeably troubled for over 100 years. In 1875, the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries reported to Congress that salmon were threatened by overfishing, dams, and habitat degradation, and in 1894 on the reduction of salmon in the Columbia River.

Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) recognizes that things have only gotten tougher for salmon as time marches on, which is why they’ve dedicated their efforts to protecting and preserving salmon habitats. Read more about them on p. 63.

Open Water Wonders

The cetaceans of the Salish Sea and Puget Sound are many things: vital to the balance of the sea, icons in the cultures of the Pacific Northwest, and always breathtaking to catch sight of. There are more species of whales and dolphins around here than you might think, including Pacific white-sided dolphins, humpback whales, minke whales, fin whales, and dall’s porpoises, but perhaps the most recognizable of marine mammals for many Washingtonians will be the orca.

Also known as killer whales or qwe ‘lhol mechen, meaning “our relations below the waves” in the Lummi language, orcas are the largest type of dolphin and top predators within their ecosystems. In our waters, they are divided into resident and transient orcas. The transient orcas are more likely to come and go from inner Washington waters, travel in groups of two to six, and hunt other marine mammals like harbor seals, smaller dolphins, and whales. Our resident orcas, also known as Southern Resident Killer Whales, have truly localized and feed only on salmon, primarily the large Chinook. These resident orcas live in three pods, named J, K, and L, which have matriarchal social systems.

Our resident orcas are also endangered. Already struggling due to dwindling salmon and human effects on their habitats, their numbers were slashed when many of them were captured for large aquarium shows in the late 1960s. To learn more about our oceanic neighbors, visit wildorca.org or thewhaletrail.org!