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-On a crisp
spring day in Suquamish

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across the water from Seattle
on the Kitsap Peninsula,

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an unusual amount of marine
predator activity gives hints

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of something happening
under the water's surface.

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(splashing water and waves)

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The scene is immediately
recognizable to those

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with ancestral knowledge
of the region.

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(seagulls mew)

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♪♪

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It’s herring

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spawning season
in Puget Sound.

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-Yeah, herring,

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is important to salmon
in a lot of ways.

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It's it's always been

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one of the cornerstone
species.

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-Herring are a key

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piece of the ecological puzzle
in Puget Sound

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and were an important food
source for indigenous tribes.

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But as the human population
grew around them,

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their numbers plummeted.

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-We had been on a pretty long
downward trend.

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We had some pretty large
fisheries that have since been

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closed, partially in response
to overfishing at the time.

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Some of our more iconic stocks
have declined by over 99%.

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Some stocks
have disappeared entirely.

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But just

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recently in 2020, 
we saw our second

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largest spawning event
since the 1980s.

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It's a

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two-sided vegetation grab
that we just drag to pick up

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samples of vegetation
to check for eggs.

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-There we go.

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-So we've got a bunch of
sargassum is the algae

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and a very heavy spawning
event came through here.

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It's a good sign.

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-With commercial herring
fishing mostly halted in

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Puget Sound,

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numbers seem to be rebounding.

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In fact, Phil and his team
are tracking a new stock,

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or group of fish that spawns
together in a specific area,

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that are spawning on beaches
right near downtown Seattle.

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Scuba diver and filmmaker
Laura James was one of the

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first to notice a sporting
event off Alki Point in 2017.

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-We were out here diving one
day and we were coming back up

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from from a dive,

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and I noticed
there were herring eggs.

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My dive buddy

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and I went on a little
adventure around the point,

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and we just started

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walking and documenting
where we saw herring eggs.

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And it turned out

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there were
literally herring eggs

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from basically down by Cove 2,

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maybe a couple of miles
away from here,

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all the way down to Lincoln
Park.

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-Scientists have taken to calling

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this new stock
the Elliott Bay stock.

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-It's sort of

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one of the more interesting
stocks because it's

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both our newest stock,
which is exciting, but

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also it hasn't really settled
on a preferred spawning area.

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So we've seen at the Sculpture
Park, we've seen it at Alki Beach.

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-So far in 2023,

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the Elliott

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Bay stock hasn't turned up
in its usual spawning grounds,

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or if it did, it went
undetected.

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This points to the need
for more citizen observers

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to keep an eye out for herring
spawning events.

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Laura uses the West Seattle Blog

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community to help
notify her of activity off Alki.

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-I'll literally say,
“Hey everybody,

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could you watch the shoreline
and email me,

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like literally email me
personally

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if you see crazy activity
along the shoreline.”

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-Another visible
sign of herring,

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which Laura was able to
capture in these aerial shots

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is white water. 

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-And it’s a

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essentially so much
eggs and milk in the water

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that it'll actually
turn the water milky.

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And so that combination
of white water

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and a lot of predator activity

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is what you can expect to see.

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♪♪

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-So indications

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are that things are looking up
for our Puget Sound herring.

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Back here in Suquamish,

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the tribe is celebrating

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the return of spawning events
like this one

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that haven't been seen
in a generation.

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-I mean, our fishermen
today haven’t

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especially the younger

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ones, have never been
in our herring fishery,

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because there hasn't
been a harvest full of numbers.

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It's been been a while
since we've seen a

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large return
that you can actually notice.

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-We’re cautiously optimistic
that we're sort

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of turning the corner.

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And conditions have allowed us

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to have a couple
of good year classes

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and hopefully to

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start to see an increasing
trend in our herring biomass.

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-Cautious optimism
sums it up well.

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A growing population of
herring and other forage fish

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would be a welcome sign
for some of the better

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known species in the region,

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since they are a key
piece of the ecosystem

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that supports larger animals
like salmon and orcas.

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-Herring, and herring in particular,

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are critical
to as food for salmon,

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but they also act
as a prey buffer for salmon.

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So we've learned that forage
fish actually will help reduce

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the predation on juvenile

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salmon from things like harbor
seals and sea lions.

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The Elliott Bay
stock in particular

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can be seen as a sign
that efforts

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to improve our natural habitat
in the city

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are having
their intended effect.

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-Where we first found it
near the Sculpture Park,

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there was an effort there
to ensure that there was

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some structure for habitat.

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So I think it is a sign
that if we're thoughtful about

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how we're doing
our development

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and try to maintain
some of those key

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habitat features in the water,

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these fish
will take advantage of it.

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-This is

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a this is a brilliant natural
event occurring

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so close to a major
metropolis.

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I mean, how many places
can you have

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forage fish eggs
being laid literally

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with a city skyline
in the background?

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It's amazing.

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-Amazing, indeed.

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Another small reminder
that Seattle

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is at the doorstep of
the Salish Sea’s diverse

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marine ecosystem.

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♪♪

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Watch CityStream

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Tuesday nights at 7
on the Seattle Channel

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or find us anytime online
at SeattleChannel.org.

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♪♪