3/7 Roe-herring fishery, oil spill, Clean Water Rule, sub surge, Capt. Vancouver, marbled murrelet, bird count

Hummy [PHOTO: Laurie MacBride]

Enough Already!
Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "Little Hummy, our resident male Anna’s Hummingbird, wasn’t pleased with the last few rounds of snow we’ve had. Nor was I. Winter has been a long, drawn-out affair here on the west coast this year, with repeat snowfalls ever since early December and lower temperatures than we’re used to. The amount of white stuff we’ve received may seem trivial to readers from other parts of the continent, but it’s been a test of west coasters’ resilience. I’ve lived here all my life and can’t recall a winter that felt so protracted. I’m not alone: every week I hear others saying, “Enough already! No more snow!” (read more)

Bumper harvest as herring return to Strait of Georgia in great numbers 
The commercial roe-herring fishery opened with a flourish over the weekend as the gillnet fleet took its share of what the federal government predicts to be “near-historic” returns to the Strait of Georgia. The height of the action took place just north of Parksville, where gillnetters unfurled their nets in choppy seas and high winds along the east coast of Vancouver Island. Curious onlookers lined the shoreline, some with cameras and others with sport-fishing rods. Gulls and sea lions patrolled for their own catch. Milt — the seminal fluid — released by the male herring gave the cobalt ocean waters an exotic milky-turquoise colour. Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Company ’highly regrets’ fuel spill at B.C. fish farm
The owner of a British Columbia salmon farm where hundreds of litres of fuel spilled on the weekend says it “highly regrets” the incident and will review its procedures. Cermaq Canada says coast guard staff performed a fuel reconciliation and determined the spill was closer to 600 litres and not the 1,500 litres the company reported earlier. It says spill pads and booms were immediately deployed at the farm off the north coast of Vancouver Island and quick actions by staff helped reduce the impact on the environment. (Canadian Press)

Low-cost monitoring device uses light to quickly detect oil spills
Simple sensing device could make cleanup easier by identifying the type of oil involved in a spill. Researchers have developed a simple device that can detect an oil spill in water and then pinpoint the type of oil present on the surface. The device is designed to float on the water, where it could remotely monitor a small area susceptible to pollution or track the evolution of contamination at a particular location. (Science Daily) See also: Oil spill-mapping swarms of flying drones  Thousands of ants converge to follow the most direct path from their colony to their food and back. A swarm of inexpensive, unmanned drones quickly map an offshore oil spill.  Grove Potter reports. (Phys.Org) See also: Scientists tweak seat cushion material to clean oil spills   Malcolm Ritter reports. (Associated Press)

EPA & USACE - Clean Water Rule
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issued a notice stating that they intend to review and rescind or revise the Clean Water Rule. 82 Fed. Reg. 12532 (3/6/17).

Trump Bump Grows Into Subscription Surge -- and Not Just for the New York Times
Publishers are witnessing a baby digital subscription boom, and its parents are that odd couple of our times, Donald J. Trump and John W. Oliver. Their offspring pop not just from the womb of the New York Times (NYT) building at Eighth Avenue and West 40th Street in Manhattan but now from hyperkinetic newsrooms from coast to coast. Ken Doctor reports. (Newsonomics)

Captain Vancouver forever changed future of west coast
George Vancouver qualifies as the province’s first snowbird, spending winters in Hawaii. His stays here were measured in months, yet those visits reshaped the political configuration of North America, redirected events from which a future province would emerge, and made possible the great urban region now associated with his name. He was born June 22, 1757, in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, a medieval seaport about 156 kilometres northeast of London, the sixth and youngest child of John Jasper Vancouver, a minor regional official of Dutch descent, and Bridget Berners, whose ancestors included Elizabethan naval hero Sir Richard Grenville. With two elder brothers, prospects of inheritance were slim. His mother died when he was 11. At 13, he joined the Royal Navy. Stephan Hume reports. (Vancouver Sun/Canada 150)

It won't be easy to save the marbled murrelet
It was a clever invitation: “Marbled Merlot Anyone? Come by my house for a glass of merlot (or cup of tea) to support meaningful conservation of the endangered Marbled Murrelets on state lands in Washington.” You have to go a little further when you are trying to rally people to action on behalf of a bird few have seen and that has been described as a brown potato with a beak. The invitation came from Maria Mudd Ruth, who has literally written the book on murrelets. Martha Baskin reports. (Crosscut)

Backyard bird count shows B.C. has most diversity in Canada
B.C. boasts Canada’s greatest diversity of wintering birds, especially in the southwest of the province, according to a citizen-science survey conducted in backyards. A total of 2,227 British Columbians participated in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count over four days in February, recording a total of 206 species. Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  256 AM PST TUE MAR 7 2017  

TODAY  S WIND 5 TO 15 KT BECOMING E 10 TO 20 KT IN THE  AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 8 SECONDS. RAIN.
TONIGHT  NW WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL  5 FT AT 8 SECONDS BUILDING TO 7 FT AT 8 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.  SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE EVENING THEN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS  AFTER MIDNIGHT.

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