Restoration and protection of this habitat type is needed because estuaries, including marine nearshore areas, provide a physiological transition zone for juvenile salmonids to adjust to saltwater environments, provide an important forage location, and provide cover for predator avoidance. Chinook salmon use estuaries for rearing and smoltification. Growth during estuary residence is critical to marine survival for Chinook salmon. Smolts (2 to 6 inches long) congregate in estuaries on their way downstream toward the main part of Puget Sound, where they acclimate to salt water in the brackish water of the estuary. They also benefit from cover provided by overhanging and emergent vegetation and abundant food sources such as crustaceans and aquatic insects. Salt marsh blind tidal channels, tidally-influenced sloughs, eelgrass beds, pocket estuaries, and shallow shoreline areas are also important estuary habitat.