Articles written by Manuel Valdes


Sorted by date  Results 1 - 2 of 2

  • Pacific Northwest geoduck caught up in U.S.-China trade war

    Sally Ho and Manuel Valdes, Associated Press|May 14, 2025

    For over two decades, Suquamish tribal member Joshua George has dived into the emerald waters of the Salish Sea north of Seattle, looking for an unusually phallic clam that's coveted thousands of miles away. George is a geoduck diver. Pronounced "gooey-duck," the world's largest burrowing clam has been harvested in tidelands by George's Indigenous ancestors in the Pacific Northwest since before Europeans arrived. In recent years it has also become a delicacy in China, with Washington state...

  • New tracking system designed to protect whales in Puget Sound

    Manuel Valdes, Associated Press|Jul 24, 2024

    Photographer Matt McDonald had lived on Puget Sound for years but had never seen a whale, so he was elated when he spotted a giant marine mammal just off Seattle’s waterfront one evening. The excitement was short-lived. As McDonald tracked the whale in his camera’s viewfinder, a Washington state ferry that dwarfed the animal came into the frame. The next morning, he saw on the news that the humpback whale had died in the collision he witnessed. “I still remember the moment when they crossed paths and my heart just started sinking like, ‘Oh m...