Forage fish are small fish that breed prolifically and serve as food for marine mammals, birds and predatory fish, such as salmon.  

In Puget Sound, forage fish include surf smelt, sand lance and Pacific herring. These fish live and spawn on the shoreline or in the shallow marine waters of the Sound. Surf smelt and sand lance spawn high up on beaches, usually above the ordinary high-water mark. Herring spawn in the eelgrass beds in clear, shallow nearshore waters.

Herring, sand lance, anchovies and surf smelt hold an important place in the food web. They feed on minute phytoplankton and zooplankton then pass this huge energy base on to other species. As such, forage fish are a key food source for marine birds, rockfish, salmon and numerous other fish species.   

What’s the problem?

In Puget Sound , researchers have recorded declines in many forage fish populations. As primary food sources for other key species in the food web, their dwindling numbers may have far-reaching effects.

  • Disease and warm water stress. Pacific herring stocks declined sharply in the north Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca in the late 1990s. Studies from the Cherry Point herring population in Whatcom County suggest that disease and warm water stress are possible causes for declines. In the central and south Sound, however, herring stocks actually increased slightly. Although NOAA Fisheries reviewed the severe decline of the Cherry Point herring stock for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), in 2005, it determined that the stock does not qualify for protection because it does not meet the standards for a “species” under the ESA. Both of these stocks have demonstrated some limited recovery during the ensuing period.
  •   Dredging, pollution and shading of nearshore waters with docks and other over-water structures can deplete eelgrass beds, which are prime spawning habitat for herring.
  • Alterations to shoreline habitat, such as bulkheads and other armoring can adversely affect the health of forage fish populations in the region. Inventories of surf smelt and sand lance spawning areas by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and others suggest that extensive shoreline modification of Puget Sound has significantly reduced these habitat areas. As part of a statewide inventory of saltwater shorelines, scientists at the Washington Department of Natural Resources found that approximately one third of all saltwater shorelines in Puget Sound have some kind of shoreline modification structure, such as a bulkhead or seawall. These hard-armoring structures and loss of shoreline vegetation damage or destroy the habitat for surf smelt and sand lance spawning. Past and ongoing pressures from development on the shoreline continue to threaten this fragile yet critical part of the ecosystem.

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What’s being done?

  • Fish and Wildlife has a forage fish management plan and is transferring years of inventory data to digital maps to make available to local governments and restoration groups.
  • A number of recent local government critical areas ordinance updates added forage fish protection measures.
  • Marine resource committees, salmon restoration groups, tribes and others are undertaking inventory and mapping projects to better understand and protect these species.
  • Shoreline landowner education conducted by Puget Sound Partnership staff, Ecology, Washington Sea Grant, Washington State University Extension, other agencies and local partners helps to increase awareness and improve protections along targeted shorelines.
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