Puget Sound recovery progress poor

BREMERTON – The latest progress report on the health of Puget Sound finds little progress toward recovery in the last few years.

The governing board of the Puget Sound Partnership approved the latest report on Friday, designed to measure progress toward goals the partnership set after the organization was created by the Legislature in 2007.

The Kitsap Sun reports that since then, the number of orcas and chinook salmon have declined; herring stocks and eelgrass beds have not increased; and marine water quality shows a recent worsening trend.

Including federal stimulus money, state and federal agencies have spent more than $230 million a year on Puget Sound restoration since 2008.

Officials say the investments have clearly slowed the decline of the Puget Sound ecosystem. But after a century of degradation, it’s going to take time to fix it.