Sustaining marine bounty in the modern age: Creative solutions for restoration of Salish Sea species and habitats

At the core of marine resilience is a thriving portfolio of marine species and habitats and our strong connections to them. At Puget Sound Restoration Fund (PSRF), this tenet drives our work - collaboratively spearheading a diverse set of in-water projects throughout the southern Salish Sea. Our main focus is restoring living marine habitat and species, using structure forming species (Olympia oysters, bull kelp) and habitat enhancing species (pinto abalone), but also with a keen eye to species of paramount importance to Tribes (heart cockles) and other communities Sound-wide (Dungeness crab). These species are critical to the food web, too, and maintain the living marine architecture that supports the marine ecosystem in Puget Sound and beyond. Robust restoration of these core elements has ripple effects, boosting function and providing direct and indirect support to fish and marine mammals throughout the food web as they face compounding effects of climate change. In this talk, I will highlight the work that PSRF and partners are doing in service of: improved water quality, increased abundance of native species, additional acres of restored habitat, enhanced ecological benefits, and re-forged connections with healthy marine resources.