What?! I barely made it to saltwater!

Oh gosh, there's a seal over there! Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers don't just tag fish...they also tag seals. Seals are tagged to track encounters between them and juvenile steelhead, a method of determining their impact to the fish. Researchers glue instrument "backpacks" to the seals' pelts. These backpacks include a GPS tracking unit that records where the seal goes, a depth sensor that records how deep in the water the seal dives, and an acoustic receiver to track encounter rates with tagged steelhead like yours. The backpacks stay on the seal until late summer; when the seal molts the backpack falls off and floats in the water so scientists can find and retrieve it. Initial work indicates seals do encounter steelhead often and are eating them.