Thriving Species and Food Web
Our goal is healthy and sustaining populations of native species in Puget Sound, including a robust food web.
A diverse and resilient food web allows for healthy and sustaining populations of native species in Puget Sound. Iconic and economically important species, like orcas and salmon, are still far from recovery goals. Healthy habitats, water quality, and the dynamic relationships between species must be restored and preserved to ensure a thriving food web.
What do the Vital Signs and indicators tell us about the Thriving Species and Food Web goal?
Reporting on Thriving Species and Food Web status and trends has grown with new Vital Signs and Vital Sign Indicators for groundfish and benthic invertebrates, zooplankton, and salmon. We continue to learn about the species critical to the health of Puget Sound and the complex relationships within its food web.
Zooplankton, tiny aquatic “drifters,” provide critical food for forage fish and juvenile salmon.
Zooplankton communities are seasonally distinct throughout the several basins in the southern Salish Sea, and changes in their communities can be tied to large-scale climate fluctuations like the Pacific marine heatwave of 2015-2016.
Some herring spawning areas increased in abundance in 2022, while others continued to decline.
The size and timing of herring spawning varies regionally and can change dramatically from year to year. Scientists continue to observe shifts in the distribution of some stocks and herring spawning in previously undocumented areas.
Salmon spawner abundance across Puget Sound has changed very little since the baseline period for three of the four indicator species: natural-origin Chinook, coho, and Puget Sound steelhead.
For Chinook and steelhead, which are federally listed as Threatened, this means we see little to no sign of recovery.
Hood Canal summer chum salmon have increased since ESA listing in 1999.
This good news reflects decades of effort and investments in habitat restoration, reduced harvest rates, and revisions in hatchery management, leading to a possible breakthrough for recovery of this Threatened species.
The status of the Southern Resident killer whale population remains fragile.
The population peaked in 1995 with 98 whales, declining to 75 whales in 2023. The combination of a precarious food supply and threats from pollution, vessel traffic, and noise jeopardize the survival of Southern Resident killer whales. In contrast, the mammal-eating Bigg’s killer whale population continues to steadily increase at what is likely a near-maximum rate.
Salmon recovery and orca recovery are closely linked.
Year-round, Southern Resident killer whales depend heavily on Chinook salmon for food. However, Chinook salmon populations show little sign of recovery, and factors such as changing climate and ocean conditions, predation on salmon from other species, harvest in fisheries, habitat degradation, hatchery programs, and hydropower operations are changing salmon densities, timing, and size, reducing prey availability for Southern Resident killer whales.
