Forage fishes (including Pacific herring, surf smelt, and sand lance, among others) play a critical role in nearshore ecosystems and marine food webs. At the same time, shoreline management
decisions, local policy, and conservation planning increasingly rely on high-quality ecological data. Community and citizen science initiatives present an opportunity to expand monitoring
capacity, deepen public engagement, strengthen place-based education, and inform local management. To that end, the Island County Marine Resources Committee (MRC) aims to develop new directions and establish connections for community members in the Salish Sea region to engage with forage fish.

This initiative, called Forage Fish FOCUS (Finding Opportunities for Communities Utilizing Science), began with a one-day collaborative workshop on April 27th, 2026 at the Cornet Bay Retreat Center in Deception Pass State Park that brought together scientists, community members, educators, and resource managers to co-develop priority action items for future policy work and research. 

These action themes will be used as the basis to inform the future directions of Forage Fish FOCUS to expand forage fish community science in the Salish Sea. Next steps include leveraging the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP) Forage Fish & Food Webs workgroup as a venue to continue dialog and following up with small groups of key workshop participants to define concrete actions under these themes.