5/29 Penn Cove, snakehead fish, Fisheries Act, low oxygen, sea snails, marine reserves

Paddle to Seattle @VFOF

If you like to watch: The derelict vessel Deep Sea, which sank off Puget Sound’s Whidbey Island, continues to leak oil as the Washington Department of Ecology prepares to lift it from the water this week. Video Captures Oil Spill As Divers Prepare To Lift Derelict Vessel

If you like to watch: An amateur wildlife filmmaker has again videotaped a snakehead fish in Burnaby Lake, days after it eluded provincial officials. Burnaby snakehead caught on film by amateur filmmaker (with video)  

If you like to watch: On June 8th and 9th, the Vancouver Festival of Ocean Films shows 10 amazing films focused on the beauty of our oceans, and some of the threats to its health.  During 3 screenings, filmgoers will have the chance to see films from Canada, Ireland, Spain, and the United States. Check it out here.

In a rare show of solidarity across party lines, four former federal fisheries ministers – two Conservatives and two Liberals – are speaking out against proposed legislative changes they say will lead to irreparable damage to fish habitat. Under the amendments, the Fisheries Act will shift its focus to protect only fish that support commercial, recreational or aboriginal fisheries. At the same time, some federal responsibilities will be offloaded to the provinces. Four former ministers protest ‘taking the guts out’ of Fisheries Act  

International scientists are looking to Saanich Inlet research to help shape a global response to the rapidly growing problem of low oxygen in large areas of ocean.  Research in Saanich Inlet shows species such as tiny shrimp, squat lobsters and small flat fish can live with remarkably little oxygen. Commercial species such as spot prawns and sole cannot survive in low oxygen.  Scientists study inlet's low oxygen

A team of U.S. and Australian scientists using a manned submersible to study the rare organisms that live around nutrient-rich hydrothermal vents on the Pacific Ocean floor inadvertently transported a species of sea snail more than 600 kilometres north, from a site off the U.S. coast to a new habitat at a deep-sea vent near Vancouver Island — potentially introducing the kind of alien invader that biologists typically battle against to protect the integrity of ecosystems.  Stowaway snails surprise scientists at Pacific deep-sea hydrothermal vents near Vancouver Island  

Researchers reporting online on May 24 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology present the first evidence that areas closed to all fishing are helping to sustain valuable Australian fisheries. The international team of scientists applied a forensic DNA profiling approach to track the dispersal pathways of fish larvae throughout a network of marine reserves on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.  DNA Evidence Shows That Marine Reserves Help to Sustain Fisheries  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 230 AM PDT TUE MAY 29 2012
TODAY
W WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 12 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF RAIN.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to: msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told