Marc J. Hershman has been credited with turning coastal management into an academic field of study. He taught coastal and ocean law, seaport management and coastal management at the University of Washington (UW) for over 30 ...
By Samantha Larson, WSG Science Writer
Since 2008, Washington Sea Grant (WSG) has placed recent graduate students in offices across the state to spend a year working on ocean and coastal science and policy issues. Over that time, the WSG Hershman Fellowship has grown into a highly respected, sought-after opportunity for students and host offices alike.
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By Samantha Larson, WSG Science Writer
Minutes away from Seattle’s Space Needle and skyscrapers, a pocket beach along the waterfront hosts an abundance of marine life. On a warm day in July this past summer, about two dozen middle schoolers poked through these tidepools, uncovering animals many of the students had never even heard of before — ...
Read MoreBy Emma Duckworth, WSG Science Communications Fellow
The pinto abalone is a crucial organism in Puget Sound. “They are the Roomba of the rocky intertidal,” says doctoral student Eileen Bates.
Abalone are key grazers that feed on the rocks of the intertidal, which allows for the natural succession of other species in the habitat and keeps the entire ecosystem ...
Read MoreBy Katalin Plummer, WSG Science Communications Fellow
Sometimes it’s the smallest living things that can tell us the most about the state of the ocean. For decades, scientists have tracked the diversity and abundance of plankton — microscopic organisms that include larval fish (ichthyoplankton), other small animals (zooplankton), and photosynthesizing bacteria and protists (phytoplankton) — on the surface of the ocean. Traditionally, this ...
Read MoreBy Samantha Larson, WSG Science Writer
The first time Sarah Fisken put on a survival suit, she was immediately thrown overboard. She was on a boat anchored out in Southeast Alaska, as she was spending the summer commercial fishing for salmon. There was another boat anchored nearby that she ...
Read MoreOctober 3, 2023
Port Townsend is getting a clean water boost with a new solar-powered pumpout unit that will help provide more options for boaters to properly dispose of their sewage.
The unit was commissioned by the Port of Port Townsend and built by the nearby Northwest School of Wooden BoatBuilding. The equipment is a self-contained module ...
Read MoreJuly 11, 2023
Three Washington marinas were recertified as part of Washington’s Clean Marina program. Port of Everett Marina, Semiahmoo Marina, and Narrows Marina surpassed the minimum pollution prevention requirements by a wide margin and successfully passed ...
May 23, 2023
Amazon Prime, Uber Eats, Instacart: All of these services get delivered directly to you these days. Now, pumpout services for your boat are joining that list. Options for recreational boaters to pump out boat sewage safely and efficiently are expanding throughout the Puget Sound. Traveling “pumpout boats” that come to where the boaters are is a service that more and more marinas and ...
Read MoreMay 5, 2023
With the opening day of boating season upon us, it’s time for boaters to brush up on keeping our waters clean. Mobile pumpout vessels make it easier to dispose of onboard sewage — in order to use pumpout services, however, boaters need to know when and where they are available.
A new ...
Read MoreApril 6, 2023
By Emma Duckworth, WSG Undergraduate Science Communications Fellow
As the weather continues to warm, Puget Sound boaters are gearing up for another beautiful season. Whether it be their first time on the water or their tenth season in the Sound, all kinds of boaters are preparing their ...
May 1,, 2022
For the past two years, the pandemic has stimulated boat sales by 17.8% and increased boater activity on the waters in Washington State. With an increase in boating activity, Washington State Parks Clean Vessel Act Program ...
November 8, 2021
Coastal Washington — This year marks the 50th anniversary of a little-known, but highly successful mariner’s agreement known as the “Crabber/Towboat Lane Agreement,” providing a positive example of what can be accomplished between disparate groups when both parties are committed to finding common ground.
In the 1970s, conflicts between ...
Read MoreJuly 20, 2021
It will now be easier for recreational boaters to safely pump out vessel sewage and keep Washington’s waters clean with an expansion of mobile pumpout services in South Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. The
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May 14, 2021
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Washington Sea Grant, we’re digging through our photo archive to share moments from our program’s history throughout the coming year. Here is a photo from 1979 of one of WSG’s marine safety and first aid trainings, where the participants are practicing cold-water rescue. WSG helps Washington fishermen reduce risks ...