Scientists try to keep up with chemical blizzard entering Puget Sound Wastewater treatment plants are sending hundreds of unregulated chemicals into Puget Sound. John Ryan Play AudioListen 1 min
Parasites have a bad rap but play an important role in the animal kingdom New research points to a steep decline of parasites in Puget Sound fish. Climate change is the likely culprit. Hans Anderson Play AudioListen 20 mins
Washington's apex has a national park. Its low point doesn’t have a name Thousands climb Mount Rainier, Washington's highest point, each year. No one, apparently, has ever been to the state’s lowest point. John Ryan Play AudioListen 2 mins
‘Tis the season … for king tides around Puget Sound ‘Tis the season for king tides: The highest tides of the year. Extreme high tides are headed to Puget Sound Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning of the last week of December. John Ryan
Neighbors: Sea Slugs Without a boat or special gear, a lot of Puget Sounds’ iconic creatures - from orcas to Dungeness crabs - remain out of our everyday reach. But there is one little guy you can find most any day on your neighborhood dock: sea slugs, also known by their scientific name, nudibranchs. We go looking for sea slugs with Soundside producer Alec Cowan, Luan Roberts and Karin Fletcher. Alec Cowan Play AudioListen 22 mins
Swelling school of seaweed farmers looking to anchor in somewhat choppy Northwest waters Prospective kelp growers who want to join the handful of existing commercial seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest are having to contend with a lengthy permitting process. It's gotten contentious in a few cases, but even so, at least a couple of new seaweed farms stand on the cusp of approval. Their harvests could be sold for human food, animal feed or fertilizer. Tom Banse
Captains of big ships eased up on the throttle during trial slowdown to help endangered orcas The majority of captains of big commercial ships entering and leaving Puget Sound are cooperating with a request to slow down temporarily to reduce underwater noise impacts to the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered killer whales. The duration of the experimental slowdown – modeled on a similar project in British Columbia – will be extended into the new year, organizers announced during a status report and celebration on the Seattle waterfront Friday. Tom Banse Play AudioListen 2 mins
Invasive crab population keeps booming in Washington Trappers have caught nearly a quarter million European green crabs in Washington waters so far in 2022. John Ryan Play AudioListen 1 min
Reducing collisions between ships and whales? There are apps for that — but they need work Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often in the Pacific Northwest that ships collide with whales. But when it does, it's upsetting, tragic and the whale probably dies. Three separate teams have developed smartphone-based systems that can alert commercial mariners to watch out or slow down when there are whales nearby. A recent ride-along on a big container ship demonstrated that real-time whale alerts are still a work in progress. Tom Banse Play AudioListen 5 mins
On a low tide, two stories collide: Reporter's Notebook It’s funny how stories collide sometimes. John Ryan
