Wednesday, May 4, 2016

5/4 #GiveBIG, salmon fishery, Break Free, BC mines, LNG slump, USCG survey, bank erosion

Spring Chinook (Michael Humling/USFWS)
GiveBIG Extended to Midnight Wednesday, May 4
A rush of online donors slowed Seattle Foundation's web site yesterday so GiveBIG, where you can direct your one-time donation to our community's hard-working nonprofits, is extended to midnight tonight. (As of 6:26 AM Wednesday, $11,372,503 has been raised from 56,943 gifts.) Your turn now.

Sport fishermen protesting in La Conner on Wednesday as tribal gill-net salmon fishery gets underway
Despite what is regarded as an unprecedented salmon fishing closure in all of Puget Sound by sport, tribal and non-tribal commercial fishermen, it appears the Swinomish Tribe has gotten approval to conduct a nine-day gill-net fishery directed at spring chinook on the Skagit River and Skagit Bay. The 25 boat Swinomish Tribal gill-net chinook salmon fishery begins on Wednesday (May 4) at 8 a.m. through Friday (May 6) at 8 a.m. with other dates planned on May 9-11 and May 16-18. NOAA Fisheries indicates this fishery will have limited impacts on wild chinook stocks of concern. However, the Puget Sound Anglers of Washington – a sport fishing advocacy group – doesn’t feel the same way, and in response will be conducting a protest at 9 a.m. on Wednesday at Rainbow Bridge that connects Fidalgo Island and La Conner in Swinomish Channel in Skagit County. Mark Yuasa reports. (Seattle Times)

Protestors plan gathering at Deception Pass park
At least 1,200 people are expected to mass at March Point in Anacortes May 13-15 to protest U.S. reliance on fossil fuels, tying up half the campsites at Deception Pass State Park and jeopardizing a vital Puget Sound Energy electrical substation, Eric Brooks, the county’s deputy emergency-management director, told the Council of Governments last week. Protest group Break Free PNW plans to “put our bodies on the line to stop the fossil-fuel economy and change history” at that event, according to its website. “Hundreds of people will risk arrest by engaging in peaceful civil disobedience.” The Shell and Tesoro refineries at March Point are responsible for 47 percent of all the gasoline and diesel consumed in the Northwest, the group said. Dan Richman reports. (Whidbey News-Times)

Auditor general slams B.C. for failing to adequately monitor mines
British Columbia's auditor general has delivered a scathing report that concludes the government is not properly prepared to protect the environment from potential disasters in the mining industry. Carol Bellringer said Tuesday that her office's mines audit was already underway in August 2014 when the tailings dam at the Mount Polley mine in central B.C. collapsed, spilling millions of cubic metres of silt and waste into nearby lakes and rivers. Her report, "An Audit of Compliance and Enforcement of the Mining Sector," took two years to complete, and it questions whether the province can properly protect the environment from risks posed by mines. (Canadian Press)

Canadian LNG prospects keep getting worse as prices tank and red tape delays projects
By now, B.C. should be rolling in cash from its burgeoning LNG industry — tens of thousands of new jobs, billions in potential royalties and a roaring economy with all the new investment into the province. Instead, it's still waiting for ground to break on any new facility, or even a final investment decision for an LNG plant. While several liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants are proposed, they have all struggled to get off the ground as they wait for regulatory approval, delay making spending decisions, or cancel plans altogether. A collapse in global LNG prices is the main culprit for why so many Canadian LNG export projects are in limbo or no longer make economic sense. Kyle Bakx reports. (CBC)

Coast Guard seeks public comment for Admiralty Inlet waterways analysis
U.S. Coast Guard officials are seeking public comment while conducting a waterways analysis and management system (WAMS) review of Admiralty Inlet. Officials are seeking information from local mariners regarding the general use of the waterways and any issues with the visibility, placement or location of aids to navigation in that area before the public comment deadline of July 31, 2016. Admiralty Inlet is the waterway connecting the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Pacific Ocean) and Puget Sound…. For a map of the WAMS review and the questionnaire form, visit the Coast Guard 13th District’s WAMS website at uscg.mil/d13/dpw/wams.asp. (Port Townsend Leader)

Willows offer solution to Saanich's erosion
Water seeps out about halfway down the terraced bank of George Zeman’s property. Zeman has no idea how much water from the Gordon Head water table is flowing out the middle of his embankment on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, but it jets out in streams when it rains, he says. From his beachfront yard, which is high on a hill just off Ash Road near Mount Douglas, it’s about 100 feet down, a dangerous 64 degree slope to the section of beach just south of Arbutus Cove. In recent years the bank of the property was slowly collapsing, unstable and at risk, but not anymore. Last month, a crew led by innovative soil bioengineer David Polster stabilized the bank with nearly 1.5 kilometres of linear waddling – a terrace that’s staircase like – made out of stakes and branches of native willow. The stakes are driven into the ground, and the branches laid sideways. Travis Paterson reports. (Saanich News)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  257 AM PDT WED MAY 4 2016  

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THIS EVENING
 

TODAY
 NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT  9 SECONDS.

TONIGHT
 W WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING NW 5 TO 15 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT OR LESS. W  SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

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"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.

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