8/6 BC sockeye, Tacoma port pays, big scary fish, jay vomit, 'megaloads' to move

Sockeye (PHOTO: DFO)

Four years after disastrous sockeye runs on the Fraser River spurred the federal Cohen Commission, fisheries managers in both Canada and the U.S. are waiting anxiously to see how returns will fare this summer for that same cycle of salmon. Mike Lapointe, chief biologist with the Pacific Salmon Commission, said the main summer runs are later than expected and that he won’t know for a few more days whether total Fraser sockeye returns will match the pre-season estimate of almost 4.8 million fish.... The estimate of 4.8 million sockeye is a median figure based on spawning success four years ago, he said, noting there is a one-in-four chance of returns as low as 2.7 million fish or as high as 8.6 million. In 2009, Fraser River sockeye returns totalled only about 1.5 million fish, down from expectations of 10.4 million, the majority of which went unfished in order to maximize numbers on the spawning grounds. Larry Pynn reports. Canadian, U.S. fisheries managers wait anxiously for summer sockeye returns

The Port of Tacoma and two contractors have agreed to pay a $500,000 penalty and spend $3 million to compensate for violations of the Clean Water Act that damaged wetlands. The proposed settlement has been filed with the court and the public will have 30 days to provide comments, which the court will consider before the settlement is approved. In 2008, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discovered that the Port of Tacoma hired a contractor to raze vegetation and destroyed more than four acres of wetlands in the Hylebos Marsh. Ashley Ahearn reports. EPA Issues $500,000 Fine For Wetlands Destruction At Port Of Tacoma  

John Denton hoped to catch a perch or bluegill on Sunday when he cast his line into Lake Ki, northwest of Marysville.... The fish he pulled out of the water was what looks like a pacu, an omnivorous South American freshwater fish that's related to the piranha. The pacu is not nearly as ferocious as its cousin -- it eats mainly fruit and vegetables and is known as the vegetarian piranha. Jim Davis reports. Exotic fish caught in lake near Marysville    Meanwhile: Eight-foot sturgeon found belly up in Lake Washington

If you like to listen: "Because the Marbled Murrelet lays only one egg, its odds of raising a family are slim. Steller's Jays – who frequent campgrounds in the redwood forests of northern California looking for human handouts – further threaten murrelet reproduction by eating their eggs. Fortunately, scientists have turned the jay's extraordinary learning capacity into a way to help those beleaguered murrelets..." BirdNote: Fake Marbled Murrelet Eggs Cause Jays to Vomit

The head of the Nez Perce Tribe says he's “shocked” by the “audacity” of an Oregon shipper that plans to haul extra-large loads through a protected stretch of Idaho. The company says it will start moving a so-called "megaload" Monday night. despite the fact that it doesn't have approval from the U.S. Forest Service. The truckload in question is a water evaporator that's 255 feet long, more than 300 tons and takes up two lanes of traffic, and the Forest Service says it can't approve that kind of load without a formal assessment of its impact. So the agency hasn’t given the greenlight to Hillsboro, Ore.-based shipper Omega Morgan. Jessica Robinson reports. 'Megaload’ to Hit the Road, Even without Federal OK  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 1052 PM PDT MON AUG 5 2013
DENSE FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON PDT TUESDAY
TUE
W WIND TO 10 KT...RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 2 FT AT 8 SECONDS. DENSE FOG LIFTING ABOUT MIDDAY.
TUE NIGHT
W WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING. W SWELL 2 FT AT 8 SECONDS. AREAS OF DENSE FOG.
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