"Today, the ecosystem formed by Hood Canal and its watersheds may have reached a threshold. Small events - a 20-acre clear-cut here, a house being built there - take their toll, along with the everyday activities of residents. Hood Canal calls on us to fit our human lifestyles into the ecosystem. It is a challenge we cannot afford to ignore." Splendor at Risk, Bremerton Sun October, 2005

Hood Canal was formed by glacial action. Depths exceed 600 feet in Dabob Bay, and average 500 feet in the central channel between Seabeck and DeWatto. A sill at the entrance of Hood Canal slows flushing action and deep water circulation. This situation causes the canal to flush very slowly, taking approximately six months to complete the process. The Canal is shallower in the south end, around Hoodsport, where the low dissolved oxygenation problem is most critical.

SEE: Hood Canal Fish Suffocate, Seattle P-I, 9/20/06