New research reveals genetic insights key to eelgrass restoration efforts

April 14, 2025

A Washington Sea Grant-funded study shows that nature, not just nurture, explains whether eelgrass flowers

Native Washington eelgrass (Zostera marina) is in trouble. Due to declines in some areas of the Salish Sea and Pacific coast over the last 20 years, restoring eelgrass – and the crucial habitat and ecosystem services it provides – is a high priority for Washington state. 

Restoring eelgrass meadows often looks like simply taking eelgrass from one ...

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WSG News Blog

Who brings your seafood to you? An interview with Jesse Holden, fisherman, shellfish farmer and geoduck diver

April 4, 2025

By Alison Lorenz, WSG Communications Project Coordinator

One of the first questions to ask in a fisherman profile is what all the fisherman catches. Many fishermen specialize in one or two species, but some target several. With Jesse Holden, the answer was: everything.

“Crabbing, shrimping, gilnetting, diving, pretty much anything,” Holden lists, explaining what he can do off the boat he recently purchased, his largest yet. He crabs for Dungeness, catches prawns, gillnets for salmon, and dives for geoduck, sea ...

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WSG News Blog

Researchers to map the genome of the invasive European green crab

April 2, 2025

With state funding, Washington Sea Grant will work with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to shed light on a highly invasive species

SEATTLE – Washington state will soon have another tool to support long-term management for one of the highest priority invasive species, European green crab, thanks to additional state funding dedicated to genetic research.

Last fall, Washington Sea Grant (WSG) received $185,000 in state appropriations to work with Washington Department of Fish ...

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WSG News Blog

Sunsetting the Transect Survey 🌇

Sunsetting the Transect Survey 🌇

April 1, 2025

Today is the first day of the 2025 monitoring season and the Crab Team monitoring network is undergoing one of our biggest changes of the last decade. It is with very considered deliberation, discussion, and debate that we have decided to sunset the shoreline transect survey, one of the three sampling protocols that has been a part of the routine at Salish Sea Crab Team sites for nearly a decade.

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Green Crab Monitoring, Uncategorized

Economic Recovery Corps Fellow Jessika Tantisook helps to shape a resilient ocean economy on Washington’s Pacific coast

March 28, 2025

By Maddie Gard, WSG Science Communications Fellow

Washington’s maritime industries have long shaped our coastal communities, economies and cultures. Today, the maritime sector is facing complex regulatory frameworks, the consolidation of industries, the graying of the fleet, and changing climate conditions, which are presenting economic challenges for coastal communities at large. In response, industry and community leaders are seeking to bolster marine-based economies through prioritizing thriving working waterfronts and workforce development as well as sustainable commercial fishing, ...

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WSG News Blog

Tacoma SOTA Wins the 2025 Orca Bowl Competition

March 18, 2025

By Luciana Calle, WSG Science Communications Fellow

On March 1, Washington Sea Grant (WSG) held the 2025 Orca Bowl Competition, Washington state’s regional National Ocean Sciences Bowl® (NOSB) event. This day-long event brings high school students from across Washington to compete in teams of four through a round-robin competition style followed by a double elimination round. Students tackle questions in all areas of marine studies, including ocean-related physics, chemistry, biology, geology, policy and technology, through ...

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WSG News Blog

Spring 2025 WSG Director update: Continuing to provide value to Washington state

March 13, 2025

Dear Partners and Friends of Washington Sea Grant:

For more than 50 years, Washington Sea Grant has served the State of Washington, the Pacific Northwest, and the nation by funding marine research, providing technical assistance, and working with communities, managers, businesses, educators, and the public to advance regional understanding and sustainable use of ocean and coastal resources. WSG’s work in 2018-2023 brought more than $190 million in services and economic benefits to the state. As a non-partisan state-federal partnership, ...

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WSG News Blog

The Benefits of Frozen Seafood: Freshness, Sustainability, and Convenience

 

When purchasing seafood for dinner, frozen is fresh!

Many people are unsure about the quality of frozen fish or shellfish at the market. The good news is, freezing technology has vastly improved over the last few decades. When it comes to seafood, frozen is a great option.

The Science of Flash Freezing

“Flash freezing” is the process of quickly lowering the temperature of freshly harvested seafood. 

Old technologies froze fish slowly. This caused cells inside the flesh to ...

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Fisheries, Safe, Sustainable Seafood, WSG News Blog

Steller sea lion scat and science communications

March 10, 2025

Reflecting on my Washington Sea Grant-supported research opportunity

By Maddie Gard, WSG Science Communications Fellow

Washington Sea Grant prioritizes three core functions: research, outreach, and education. By some quirk of fate, I’ve matched with opportunities in each of these focus areas as a student in Washington state universities. When I was an undergraduate, a formative research experience in marine mammal ecology strengthened my passion for science-informed conservation efforts and catalyzed my career direction. 

At Western ...

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WSG News Blog

Fisherman First Aid and Safety Training (FFAST) | Westport, WA

Fisherman First Aid and Safety Training (FFAST)

The Fishermen First Aid and Safety Training (FFAST) course is a two-day intensive first aid course. It was built to help commercial fishermen prevent and treat injuries they are likely to encounter at sea.

The FFAST course provides essential first aid training and meets the stringent requirements of the U.S. Coast Guard for onboard first aid training. It is a valuable complement to the U.S. Coast Guard-required “Drill Conductor Course,” where fishermen learn how to ...

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Uncategorized

Eyes on the Elwha: A Conversation with WSG Coastal Hazards Specialist, Ian Miller

March 3, 2025

By Maddie Gard, WSG Science Communications Fellow

When the Elwha River dams were breached in 2011, a century’s worth of accumulated sediment was released and transported downstream to the coastal zone. An estimated 19 million metric tons of mud, sand and gravel that had been trapped in the dam reservoirs transformed twists and turns of the Elwha River, eventually flushing out to the coast and reshaping the river delta near Port Angeles. Since then, Washington ...

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Hazard Resilience, Marine and Coastal Planning, WSG News Blog

Crab Team Turns 10: Crabstock Shell-ebration

Crab Team Turns 10: Crabstock Shell-ebration

February 26, 2025

Crab Team Origins & 10 Years of Accomplishments

From humble beginnings spent daydreaming in 2014, from the first trap in the water in 2015, to a network of 307 active monitors across 68 sites: in 2024, Crab Team celebrated a decade of trudging around in the mud and counting crabs! A ...

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Green Crab Monitoring

Meet Luciana Calle, 2025 WSG Undergraduate Science Communications Fellow

February 25, 2025

Luciana Calle was born and raised in the Midwest yet has been living in Washington for 8 years. Her awe for the Pacific Northwest and her fascination with the environment led her to pursue environmental science and resource management, which she currently studies as an undergraduate at the University of Washington. She also took an interest in climate change early ...

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WSG News Blog

Thirty-fourth Shellfish Growers Conference offers connection and community

February 25, 2025

On February 10 and 11, Washington Sea Grant (WSG) hosted its annual Shellfish Growers Conference, another successful gathering of the event that has brought together shellfish growers, researchers, Tribal members and representatives and state and federal agency representatives for more than 30 years.

The theme of this year’s conference was community. At the Alderbrook Resort in Union, WA, where the conference is held each year, attendees put that theme on full display, from happy reunions in the hallway and ...

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WSG News Blog

From boat to plate

The newly revised Seafood Direct Marketing Manual helps seafood harvesters dive into direct-to-consumer sales

From the Winter 2024-2025 Sea Star

By Alison Lorenz, WSG Communications Project Coordinator

Starting a business is no easy feat — especially when you throw in the unpredictable nature of boat maintenance, weather, catches and wholesale prices. For many fishermen, selling their product directly to seafood consumers can be a way to regain some control in a notoriously volatile industry. But where does a fisherman who is interested in ...

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WSG News Blog

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