9/12 Whale saved, marine robot, BC LNG, pinks, fish ladder, Dockton shore, shark dive, San Juan plan, Whatcom slaughterhouses, Columbia chinook

"New" I-5 Skagit River Bridge

New blog: The state Fish and Wildlife Department last Friday announced extension of the hatchery Chinook sport fishing season to November 30-- if the sport fishers are good boys...  Samish River Chinook and the Nanny State  

A young grey whale hopelessly entangled in fishing gear off the west coast of Vancouver Island has been set free in a dramatic joint operation involving the federal fisheries department and Parks Canada... The story begins Sept. 4, when a biologist with the Makah tribe in Washington state noticed a grey whale trailing fishing floats and ropes from its tail on the U.S. side of Juan de Fuca Strait. Staff with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put a large buoy and VHF transmitter on the trailing gear but lost the whale in the fog. The whale was next spotted Sept. 7 at about noon in B.C. waters, at Nitinat Narrows off the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.... Larry Pynn reports. Grey whale off Vancouver Island expected to survive after fishing gear removed  

Imagine a seafaring robot roaming local waterways in search of the toxic algae trying to poison the clams and oysters you eat. No, it's not a scene for an upcoming sci-fi movie; this is actually happening and the Puget Sound is involved. "The goal in what we are trying to do is detect any sort of developing bloom before they occur and before they are able to contaminate shellfish," said Stephanie Moore, project scientist with NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center. In July, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center deployed two robots, known as Environmental Sample Processors, in the Puget Sound - one in Lummi Bay and the other along the shoreline of Samish Bay. Kiersten Throndsen reports. Robots roaming Puget Sound could save shellfish industry millions

Concern is growing in northwest British Columbia that a flurry of activity related to liquefied natural gas pipelines is taking place without government permits or a sense of the overall impact on the region. “At this point, it’s a free for all … it’s a gold rush mentality,” said Pat Moss of the Northwest Institute for Bioregional Research, a non-profit environmental organization based in Smithers. Mark Hume reports. ‘Free for all’ feared as wilds of northwest B.C. being prepped for LNG pipelines

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is reporting some promising numbers for pink salmon returns in B.C. rivers after a drastically low season for the sockeye fishery. DFO area manager in Kamloops Les Jantz, say an estimated 26 million pinks are flooding into local rivers and streams. That's nearly three times higher than the early season estimate of about nine million fish. Bumper return of 26 million pink salmon surge up B.C.'s waterways  

Washington state has hired a contractor to inspect and repair the Capitol Lake fish ladder that lets migrating salmon move upstream from Budd Inlet. Roglin’s Inc. of Aberdeen is expected to start inspecting the situation at 4 a.m. Thursday and begin repairs once it determines what is blocking the wooden cells that make up the passage... The Department of Fish and Wildlife has told DES there is no emergency but that the repairs need to be made quickly. Erskine said the problem was noticed last Thursday and the agency hopes repairs can be done in two or three days. Brad Shannon reports. State plans work on Capitol Lake fish ladder

David Hyde went to visit the Vashon-Maury Island Basin steward for King County, Greg Rabourn, who helps restore Puget Sound shorelines one beach at a time. Rabourn led Hyde on a tour of the Dockton shoreline, where he and his team have been removing creosote pilings, bulkheads and decades of fill. The site was originally a salt marsh. Then, a sawmill came in, and covered the marsh with log ends. Later came fill dirt, bricks from a nearby factory, and boulders. Now, all that stuff has been scraped away revealing spongy peat -- a gift from that long-buried marsh. Rabourn says he suspects there are dormant seeds hiding in that peat that could now sprout after seeing sunlight for the first time in a century. Restoring Puget Sound Shorelines One Beach At A Time

Ever dreamed of swimming with sharks? A new program at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium offers visitors a chance to do this beginning Oct. 11. The Eye-to-Eye Shark Dive will allow non-certified divers to view sharks up close from an underwater cage. Visitors will climb into the South Pacific Aquarium with more than a dozen sharks, including a lemon shark, nurse sharks, blacktip reef sharks and others. Judy Oehling reports. Want to swim with sharks? Here’s your chance

San Juan County will be headed back to the drawing board with its critical areas ordinance. In a decision handed down Sept. 6, the Washington state Growth Management Hearings Board determined that while much of the ordinance satisfies goals of the state Growth Management Act, there remain 10 elements of the controversial revision of the county CAO that do not comply with state law. From buffers widths to best available science, and from wetland water quality protection to exemptions allowed for utilities in public and private right-of-ways, 10 portions of the CAO will need to be revisited and reconstructed as a result of the Hearings Board ruling. Mixed ruling on CAO; Hearings Board strikes down 10 pieces of controversial update  

Packinghouses where farm animals are slaughtered and the meat is processed for sale are legal on farmland in Whatcom County, after the County Council voted 4-3 on Tuesday, Sept. 10, to allow them. The new rules allow slaughterhouses less than 7,000 square feet with no more than a building permit, state permits for waste handling and discharge, and rights to the water they will use. Slaughterhouses up to 20,000 square feet are allowed after a public hearing and a review by the county hearing examiner, who acts as a judge over land-use decisions. Ralph Schwartz reports. Slaughterhouses allowed on Whatcom farmland after close vote

Fall Chinook have kept fish counters at Bonneville Dam busy. With several weeks left in the strongest part of this year’s run, numbers are already close to beating the previous record set 10 years ago. Counts are on track to surpass what fish managers had predicted would be an already strong run for the upriver brights. So far this year, fish counters have spotted more than 530,000 adult fall chinook — add to that more than 62,000 caught in upriver fisheries. Fish managers say the salmon run will remain strong through September. The previous record was more than 703,000 fish in 2003 at the Columbia River mouth. Courtney Flatt reports. A Record Year For Columbia River Fall Chinook

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT THU SEP 12 2013
TODAY
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 5 FT AT 13 SECONDS. AREAS OF DENSE FOG THIS MORNING.
TONIGHT
NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING W 5 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 12 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG.
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