Fish Below Your Feet and Other Solutions for a Living Harbor

Bobbing in a drysuit and snorkel in the polluted waters of Elliott Bay would not usually be my first choice for ocean recreation, but I’m tagging along with two University of Washington (UW) habitat biologists who are counting fish and other marine creatures near the sea wall to see these enhancements close-up. Sparked by the city’s recognition in the early 2000s that its downtown shoreline needed habitat improvements—resulting in a small beach near Olympic Sculpture Park created in 2006, and construction of the new sea wall that began in 2013—SAFS has embarked on a long-term effort to track the effects of the new sea wall on marine organisms. Undoing 150 years of urbanization is impossible, but Seattle officials hope the new sea wall will improve the situation for salmon and other marine species.

Source: www.hakaimagazine.com