SeaDoc is a science-based marine conservation program. We understand that science informs policy, including priority setting and budgeting.
Washington State faces difficult budget choices. With multi-billion-dollar shortfalls, lawmakers are scrutinizing every line item. In moments like this, funding that supports biodiversity — everything from living soil to forests, from bugs to whales, and from mountain streams to the sea—can look like a luxury. It is not.
Science is at the foundation of everything we do at SeaDoc—from Salish Sea Wild and Pod of Orcas to our efforts to inform policy. For decades our Scientific Advisory Committee has played a vital role on that front.
The Committee is made up of respected individual scientists doing important work throughout the Salish Sea. This month we say a heartfelt goodbye to one longtime advisor, Meg Chadsey, and we welcome two new exciting additions, Jennifer Russell and Lisa Watkins.
After years as part of our small but mighty Admin Team, our friend and coworker Michelle Homewood completed her time at SeaDoc last month. She’ll now embark on the exciting next chapter of her career.
As an Administrative Assistant with SeaDoc, Michelle’s hands were on everything from arranging field-work logistics to processing the donations that make that work possible.
When shell-boring marine worms were first documented in Olympia oysters in 2020, they raised an important question for restoration: were these parasites always part of the Salish Sea ecosystem, or were they accidentally introduced with Pacific oysters a century ago? That mystery sent researchers on an investigation thousands of years into the past.
