The San Juan Islands are home to much of the regions healthy and intact nearshore marine habitat. Nearshore habitats are found at the junction of land and sea, often in the form of pebbly beaches or tidal eelgrass prairies. Nearshore habitats provide spawning, rearing, feeding, and migrating grounds for species that form the building blocks of our local ecosystem, such as Pacific herring, surf smelt, and Pacific sand lance. Salmon eat these forage fish and also rely upon the nearshore area for migration and shelter. Our local Orca whales, in turn, rely on a steady diet of salmon, primarily Chinook.
Recent declines in the quality and quantity of nearshore habitat throughout the region have contributed to declines in orca and salmon populations. Maintaining the health of the nearshore ecosystems is an important goal in itself, but also vital to protecting these species and restoring them from the brink of extinction. |
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In fact, protection of nearshore habitats has been identified as the most important salmon recovery strategy for the San Juan Archipelago at both the local and regional level by Shared Strategies for Puget Sound, the Puget Sound Action Team, and the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee. |
