12/14 Salish Sea News and Weather: Eat crab, overfishing, bag ban, black bear, coyotes, Edmonds streams, Discover Pass, ocean debris, liveaboards, HB 1904

PHOTO: Nancy Leson, Seattle Times

If you like to eat: Nancy Leson blogs, “When I was a kid, we ate a lot of crab. Blue crab. I'd hang out with my siblings on the docks at the Jersey shore, catching those puny crustaceans using a simple hook-and-line baited with squished-up Wonder Bread. We'd slowly reel in our catch, praying the creatures wouldn't fall back in the drink. Then, we'd toss the crab into a bucket of seawater until they'd meet their maker -- our mother -- who'd throw in a big hit of Old Bay seasoning and steam them for us. Today, my siblings eat those crabs by the dozen alongside pitchers of beer at crab joints "down the shore" and at taverns throughout Philadelphia. But now that I'm a hard-core Pacific Northwesterner, there's only one crab for me: Dungeness.” Got crab? (Dungeness, that is.) Well, get cracking! 

Oceana filed suit in U.S. District Court contending that NOAA Fisheries Service violated provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens fisheries management act by failing to account for the needs of the ecosystem when setting the harvest limits for sardines, anchovies, mackerel and squid. Sadly, much of the harvest goes for bait and feed used on fish farms. Lawsuit: Overfishing leaves salmon, whales hungry  

Is Seattle ready to join Edmonds, Bellingham and Mukilteo in green? The Utilities and Neighborhoods Committee of the Seattle City Council Tuesday approved an amended plastic bag ban that will go to the full Council Monday for final action. Seattle's proposed plastic bag ban clears committee  

Thank goodness, they didn’t shoot. The adventurous dumpster-diving black bear who was discovered in downtown Vancouver Monday afternoon has been given a new home in Squamish. Black bear gets new home in Squamish area after downtown Vancouver foray  

Meanwhile, the population of coyotes on Fox Island isn’t just dense, “it’s out of whack,” says wildlife biologist Matt Stevens.  Fox Island Residents Host Meeting to Discuss Coyote Concerns  

Adopt-A-Stream Foundation surveyed streams at Perrinville, Lunds Gulch and Picnic Point and reports that each has good habitat supporting fish but barriers remain that prevent salmon and trout from traveling to the streamhead to spawn. Three Edmonds streams in good health but few hurdles remain for salmon  

Fixing the new Discover Pass: Washington State University’s November survey showed that the one-pass for one-car policy has a negative effect on people purchasing the Discover Card. A clause in the program that limited transferability between vehicles will become a thing of the past under legislation proposed by state Senator Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island. Ranker proposes new legislation for Washington Park Discover Pass  

Know the difference between cleaning up debris in the open ocean and cleaning it up once it’s reached the shore? Open ocean cleanup efforts require hands, boat and supplies which can cost more than $35,000 per day to operate, because the composition of the debris makes it difficult to clean. Tsunami debris 'difficult to clean' and most must come up by hand  

Vanessa Ho at SeattlePI.com reports on Seattle’s update of its shoreline master plan and its effects on “liveaboards.” What’s a “houseboat” and when is a vessel a “floating home?” When are you living on a “house barge” and not on a “vessel?” Seattle cracks down on houseboat-like boats

One of the Northwest Marine Trade Association’s legislative priorities is HB 1904 which would allow visiting boats to stay in Washington longer, making it easier for boatyards to install water treatment systems and protecting boaters from additional taxes. Boat battles brewing in Oly  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 242 AM PST WED DEC 14 2011
TODAY
SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 6 TO 7 FT AT 12 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF RAIN.
TONIGHT
SE WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 4 TO 5 FT AT 11 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY IN THE EVENING...THEN RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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