Once complete we belive this will be the most comprehensive index of dive maps and dive site information for the pacific northwest / sailish sea. The compendium will include an interactive map and searchable database of all sites that have any information from any known source (guidebooks, maps, online posts, etc):

• Temperature sensitivity of the Giant Pacific Octopus:
  Beginning in 2014, giant pacific octopus sightings began what would be a ~80% decline across the Puget Sound. Analysis of various public marine data set showed these population declines were strongly linked to warm water temperatures. Through a collaboration with Dr. David Scheel of Alaska Pacific University, these findings were peer review and published in the journal Marine and Freshwater Results in 2021 (page with details and full pre-pub article coming soon)
• Starfish wasting syndrome and the related effects across the ecosystem (page coming soon)
• The decline of the vermilion rockfish - what we know from volunteer survey data (page coming soon)
• What volunteer survey data tells us about Bluntnose Sixgill Sharks (page coming soon)
• Octopus and Crab - examining a classic predator/prey relationship in data (page coming soon)

• A collection of species identification resources (page coming soon)
  • PNW Fish Notes: Curtis' personal notes of local fish with pictures and what features to look at to tell them apart. Information mostly from Reef.org's wonderful fishinars
  • PNW Invertebrate Notes: Same as the fish notes above, except for the invertabrates surveyes by Reef.org
  • PNW Species Downloadable flash card tool (page coming soon)
• 3d-printable designs for various tools and parts (page coming soon)
• Links to fantastic web sites you should know about (dive clubs, tide/current planning tools, etc (page coming soon)

Because most marine research (and funding) is focused on commercially valuable species, there is surprisingly little research or monitoring of all other fish, invertebrates, and other marine species. According to an analysis by the livingplanetindex.org, of the 30,850 known fish species only 2,150 species had any known data available at all (<7%). Worse, the data that does exist for many species is quite limited.

For many species the data collected by volunteers plays a critical role in addressing this gap. We still live in a time where even amateur “citizen scientists” can help make a meaningful impact by contributing to various science and monitoring efforts.

How you can help:

• Reef.org: (Salty Sea Reserach guide with PNW tip/tricks coming soon)
• Reef Check:
• Washington State Young of the year rockfish study
• Saltwater State Park fish monitoring
• Sixgill sightings
• Contribute information to Sailish Sea Research’s dive site compendium. We greatly appreciate links to known guides we don’t already have, your own notes about how to access or plan at certain sites, or dive maps not already in the database.

• Dive site compendium: Dive maps and information about how to enjoy the many great sites in the PNW is currently strewn across multiple web sites, discussion forums, printed guidebooks, is word of mouth "tribal knowledge" shared person to person, or simply doesn’t exist at all. The compendium is an effort to index all known information about each individual site. We also are making an effort to document new information, guides, and dive maps where needed.
• Dashboard of what's happening under the Sailish Sea: What species are experiencing significant abundance changes and what water quality metrics are changing (temperature, nutrient pollution, etc)
• Dive site current tracking: Predicting slack times at specific dive sites generally involves using published NOAA prediction stations which are often miles away and trying to apply “corrections”. Unfortunately this method is often approximate and for many dive sites no known or reliable values exist at all.
  By using low cost 3d printed electronic current sensing devices, we believe logging of current speeds over time at the exact locations people dive would provide data for substantially better planning tools at a wider variety of sites. Machine learning techniques (ie: AI) may even allow predictions several days in advance that take into account other factors that can affect slack times such as weather or river flows.