Forage Fish Monitoring

Nearshore Habitat

The Whatcom MRC participates in a regional effort, led by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), to characterize populations of two species of forage fish that spawn on Puget Sound beaches: Pacific sand lance and surf smelt. This project has included a successful collaboration between WDFW, the Northwest Straits Initiative, and the MRC’s citizen scientists, improving knowledge of forage fish spawning grounds in Washington State.

The MRC collects bulk sediment samples from 4 locations along Little Squalicum Beach, within the beach nourishment areas of the two recent restoration projects completed by the City of Bellingham and Port of Bellingham.

Because forage fish are a vital component of the food web in the Salish Sea, WDFW monitors their spawning locations, population status, and responses to shoreline development. The MRC serves as a local partner to WDFW to support their statewide sampling efforts and to expand the impacts of the study. As such, the goal of the forage fish monitoring project is to survey local beaches for forage fish spawn to support statewide sampling, to inform potential soft shore restoration projects in Whatcom County, and to assess the impacts of local restoration projects on forage fish spawning. Click here to view WDFW's forage fish spawning map.

Left: Bulk substrate collection. Photo credit: Dana Flerchinger.

Right: Photo characterizing a sample location along measuring tape. Photo credit: Eleanor Hines.

Left: Wet sieving and winnowing process.

Right: The vortex method. Photo credits: Austin Rose

Surf smelt eggs found at Little Squalicum Beach from 2024-2025. Total number of surf smelt eggs represent the combined counts at each of the 4 sites at Little Squalicum Beach. However, site LSE-1 had the majority of the eggs. Data from 2025 only goes until June as WDFW has not yet processed the samples from July-September of 2025 due to capacity limitations.

Check out the 2025 Forage Fish Final report

Forage Fish Monitoring