The H. akashiwo bloom is indicated by an arrow. As in areas impacted by Fraser River plume, both temperature and salinity were the parameters which displayed the most striking correlation with this H. akashiwo bloom. The maximum water temperature recorded during 1995 and 1996 was 13.8 C. Temperature spikes began in early 1997 gradually rising as the season progressed. This 1997 H. akashiwo bloom did not occur until after the water temperature rose above 16 C, close the 15 C target for Fraser River delta monitoring program. Figure 2 .
Bloom is indicated by an arrow.
Although the gradient from surface to bottom was small for both salinity and temperature, a shallow stratification was able to develop by mid-July during the bloom, and subsequently broke down rapidly by 21 July. Figure 3 . 17 July 1997. Stratification in Puget Sound is transitory, this 1997 episode was very short lived, disintegrating within days. We found that the water temperature profile during 1997 was very different from past years.