The mysterious decline of Puget Sound herring
Pacific herring might be the most popular dish in Puget Sound. The small silvery swimmers are called 鈥渇orage fish鈥 not because they鈥檙e rummaging for food, but because just about everything wants to eat them.
They fill the bellies of Puget Sound sea life, from giant sea lions to the iconic chinook salmon to tiny jellyfish, which means that they鈥檙e key players in the local marine ecosystem. That makes herring fundamentally important 鈥 and it makes their shrinking numbers alarming.