Biologists
from WDFW's Marine Mammal Investigations and other agencies
and organizations (see Research Organizations) are working
on assessing the
status of the health of Puget Sound and establish
a baseline of data that will enable trends to be tracked over
time on species that spend some significant portion of their
year on marine waters and are highly dependent upon the marine
resource. Harbor seals are excellent sentinels of marine ecosystem
health because of their high trophic level. We are conducting
research regarding life history parameter, contaminants
and immunological response, reproductive success, disease and overall health monitoring at our long-term study site
in southern Puget Sound.
Seal photos and video
footage were taken by Dyanna Lambourn, WDFW biologist
