Monitoring and research are vital to understanding the status of Puget Sound 's health. The Puget Sound Assessment and Monitoring Program (PSAMP) brings together local, state, and federal agencies—coordinated by the Puget Sound Partnership—to assess trends in environmental quality in the Sound.  

PSAMP will be a key component of the Puget Sound Partnership Science Panel, a newly created program that will provide scientific advice to the Partnership’s Leadership Council.

How does PSAMP report results of monitoring and assessment?

PSAMP’s work focuses on the following areas:  

  • Marine and fresh water quality
  • Fish, marine mammal and marine bird populations
  • Toxic contamination in water and sediments
  • Shellfish health
  • Nearshore habitats
  • Toxics in biota and fish health
Results of PSAMP’s work are published and reported in a variety of ways, including:
  • Puget Sound Updates.  The Puget Sound Updates are technical reports generally published every four years that summarize the condition of Puget Sound as measure by PSAMP and other research and monitoring programs.
  • State of the Sound reports. State of the Sound reports provide data on the overall health of the Sound, as well as progress that state agencies are making to protect and improve it. The Action Team and its predecessor agency have reported on the health of the Sound since 1986.
  • Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research Conferences. Every two years, the Puget Sound Partnership and Environment Canada sponsor the Puget Sound Georgia Basin Research conference, which attracts researchers from both sides of the border and from other nations as well. PSAMP scientists present their findings at the conference, which are also published in the conference’s proceedings.
  • Puget Sound Conservation and Recovery Plan. PSAMP findings help guide the planning process for the Puget Sound Conservation and Recovery plan to restore and protect Puget Sound . Agency reports and briefings to natural resource managers.

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Who are the PSAMP partners?

The following state, local and federal agencies are involved in the Puget Sound Assessment and Monitoring Program:

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What do PSAMP partners do?

Puget Sound Partnership

 Department of Ecology

  • Collects and analyzes monthly samples of nutrients, suspended solids, fecal coliform, temperature and dissolved oxygen at 30 river and stream monitoring stations.
  • Collects information on sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity and the community of sediment-dwelling organisms at stations throughout Puget Sound.
  • Collects monthly data on salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, ambient light conditions, fecal coliform bacteria and nutrients at 30 marine water sampling stations.

Department of Fish And Wildlife

  • Monitors concentrations of contaminants in English sole, quillback and copper rockfish, coho salmon and Pacific herring. Evaluates liver disease in English sole as an indicator of toxic effects on fish health.
  • Conducts bottom trawls to collect specimens and to estimate groundfish abundance.
  • Conducts aerial surveys of marine birds to estimate the population size of marine diving ducks and other marine birds.
  • Monitors numbers and condition of harbor seals. Cooperates in monitoring contaminant concentrations in harbor seal blubber tissue and other indicators of seal health.
Department of Health
  • Monitors fecal coliform bacteria concentrations in seawater at shellfish growing areas.
  • Conducts marine biotoxin surveys to measure the concentrations of paralytic shellfish poison or PSP in shellfish.

Washington State Department of Natural Resources

  • Maps aquatic vegetation and a series of physical shoreline attributes that strongly affect the distribution of marine plants and animals.
  • Conducts a number of inventory and monitoring efforts and offers a variety of hard copy and electronic map products.

King County Department Of Natural Resources

  • Monitors water column, sediment and nearshore resource conditions at locations in central Puget Sound . Parameters measured include nutrients, pathogens and toxic contaminants.

>>>For more information, contact info@psp.wa.gov or call 1.800.54.SOUND.

HIGHLIGHTS

PSAMP Fact Sheet
Proceedings: 2007 Georgia Basin Puget Sound Research Conference | Website
2007 Puget Sound Update: Ninth report of the Puget Sound Assessment and Monitoring Program
Review of the Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program 2005 | PDF

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