The Forsaken Fjord V2.0—Science, Society, and Biological Decline in Puget Sound

Today we see severe and expanding human influence throughout the Puget Sound landscape, and multiple, continuing signs of biological decline. Unfortunately, monitoring and research to understand, protect, and recover Puget Sound has historically been a fragmented, uneven collection of efforts, surprisingly little of which considered Puget Sound in an ecosystem context or focused specifically on the biological effects of human activity. Although recent efforts show some promise for improving the science-based management of Puget Sound, we still have no comprehensive, coherent narrative of how the ecosystem works, how it has been affected by human activity, and what can and should be done to restore the Sound or even halt or slow its decline. This presentation will draw on examples from historical monitoring and assessment efforts, as well as recent studies of natural and human influences on Puget Sound fish, bird, and invertebrate assemblages, to illustrate how monitoring and assessment can be improved.