Secrets of the Salish Sea
Richly-illustrated book provides insight into the wonders of area
Speak to a crusty sea captain and he’s likely to snap: “There’s no such damned placed as the Salish Sea. Just try to find it on a marine chart.”
That may be true, but the Salish Sea is real nonetheless, a name officially agreed upon by politicians on both sides of the international border in 2009 to describe the marine waters of the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound and Juan de Fuca Strait.
Endangered resident killer whales are an iconic example of a species that recognizes no boundaries and requires good management in both Canada and the U.S. to ensure its survival.
But there is much more to this shared ecosystem that we do not know, and that’s where The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest helps to fill the void.
“I’d have trouble telling you about another place that had two really large urban centres (Vancouver and Seattle), that was a major commercial transportation hub, that had so much cool fish and wildlife going ...” says co-author Joseph Gaydos, chief scientist with the SeaDoc Society in the San Juan Islands. “I don’t know that there’s another place like it in the world.”
The Salish Sea is a feast for the eyes, a high-quality publishing effort rich in glossy colour photos and fascinating biological information that is likely to surprise even someone wellversed in our marine waters.
For example, did you know that the spotted ratfish, with no commercial value, makes up the largest biomass in the Salish Sea?
Or that the male Pacific octopus has fewer suckers than a female due to its third modified right arm, which is used for insemination?
Or that juvenile rock crabs in summer and early fall will hitch a ride aboard the bell or oral arms of the egg-yolk jellyfish?
The Salish Sea does a remarkable job of showcasing the ecological depth and diversity of our marine environment, providing not just knowledge but fuelling a collective impetus to preserve it.
“The first step in conservation is getting people to know a place and connect to it,” Gaydos concludes. “We’re in this precarious situation. We’re got this really amazing place but if we don’t recognize that and take care of it, it won’t stay that way. We are in this together and it will take a combined effort.”