10/23 Whales!, airport fog, quakes, 'Blackfish,' Cathedral Grove, Vancouver WA oil, Gulf oil, shot sea otter, Victoria stormwater

Killer whales (PHOTO: Carl Safina)

Killer Whale Calls
Shh, listen: Carl Safina invites you to listen to 20 or so whales in Haro Strait off San Juan Island. "(I)f you close your eyes, you can picture the backdrop of a jungle just as easily as the ocean. A hydrophone was used to capture the sounds, and although it may sound like birds, the recording is only of whale calls." And, from Orca Watcher Monika Wieland: End of Season Superpod

How can planes land at Sea-Tac in the dense fog? Holograms!
It is a marvel of human technology that in fog so dense that driving just 35 mph on a local Seattle street still has you straining to see that traffic light just a half-block away, a plane traveling well over 100 mph on final approach can not only find, but land with pinpoint accuracy on an invisible airport runway -- and still find its way back to the terminal.... Now Sea-Tac Airport, as many others across the globe, has an Instrument Landing System that helps transmit signals to help incoming planes find their way. Scott Sistek reports.

Study: Quake-triggered landslides a significant hazard in Seattle
The next big earthquake on the Seattle fault could trigger destructive landslides in the city, potentially affecting a much larger area than previously thought, and in areas outside those currently considered to be landslide prone, a new University of Washington-led study shows. “A major quake along the Seattle fault is among the worst-case scenarios for the area, since the fault runs just south of downtown.” said Kate Allstadt, a UW doctoral student in Earth and space sciences. “Our study shows the need for dedicated studies on seismically induced landsliding.”

‘Blackfish’ premieres on television Thursday
Chris Dunagan at Watching Our Water Ways blogs: '“Blackfish,” a documentary film about killer whales in captivity, will be shown on television Thursday at both 6 and 9 p.m. on CNN, the cable news network... I’ve been looking forward to viewing this film, which has generated a great deal of controversy for its criticism of SeaWorld and its practices — including the public-relations surrounding the tragic death of trainer Dawn Brancheau. Brancheau was killed in 2010 at SeaWorld Orlando by an orca named Tillikum, who dragged her into his pool and kept her under water."

Protesters target old-growth logging on Island
About 50 protesters from half a dozen conservation groups gathered Tuesday at Cathedral Grove, west of Parksville, to protest Island Timberlands’ expansion of logging operations into old-growth forests on Vancouver Island. Protesters from the Ancient Forest Alliance, the Port Alberni Watershed-Forest Alliance and several other groups unfurled a banner reading “Hands off old growth” and handed leaflets to visitors stopping at Cathedral Grove on Highway 4. Conservationists are calling on Island Timberlands to suspend plans to log old-growth forests while asking the provincial government to restore a park acquisition fund, and earmark $40 million a year for a decade to go into the fund. Sandra McCulloch reports.

Port Of Vancouver Votes Again To Approve Controversial Oil Terminal Lease
Even with two recent oil-transport accidents to point to, opponents of a controversial oil terminal weren’t able to persuade port commissioners Tuesday to reverse their July approval of a lease for the project. Opponents raised new safety concerns in light of Saturday’s oil train derailment and explosion in Alberta. They also pointed to a 20,000-barrel oil spill in North Dakota from a pipeline owned by Vancouver oil terminal project backer Tesoro Corp. Cassandra Profita reports.

Three million pounds of oil found on Louisiana shore three years after BP spill
The amount of oil found on Louisiana’s coast has surged this year, three years after BP PLC’s Macondo spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the state’s Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority said. In the first eight months of this year, about three million pounds of “oily material” were cleaned up on Louisiana’s coast, up from 119,894 pounds in the same period last year, according to a report posted on the website of the state’s Department of Natural Resources. Jemima Kelly reports.

Sea otter shot in face fighting for life  
A sea otter with gunshot wounds to his head and body is struggling to survive, as a team of veterinarians from the Vancouver Aquarium desperately tries to save him. The adult male otter was found on the shoreline in Tofino, B.C., in obvious distress and with significant injuries to his flippers, and was delivered to the aquarium's Marine Mammal Rescue Centre on Oct. 18 in critical condition. "He's in extremely rough shape and I'm very concerned about him. X-rays show that he has been shot with a shot gun and there are pellets in his face and body," said Martin Haulena, a veterinarian with the Vancouver Aquarium.

Victoria offers tips ahead of 2014 stormwater bills
There’s no stopping the rain, but Victoria hopes to help you manage it better. Homeowners won’t get their first stormwater utility bills from the City of Victoria until next September but in the meantime, using videos, open houses, media releases, a phone hotline and even a stormwater garden gnome, the city is about to launch a program to explain the ins and outs of rainwater management. Essentially, the more you can do to slow the rate of runoff from your property into city storm drains, the better. Bill Cleverley reports.

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 230 AM PDT WED OCT 23 2013
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON PDT TODAY
TODAY
E WIND 15 TO 25 KT BECOMING SE TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT SUBSIDING TO 1 FT OR LESS IN THE AFTERNOON. W
 SWELL 6 FT AT 13 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG.
TONIGHT AND THU
LIGHT WIND. W SWELL 4 OR 5 FT AT 13 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG.
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