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| Bay pipefish [Seattle Aquarium] |
Bay pipefish are found in eelgrass or algae beds in shallow bays and inlets along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California and grow up to 13 inches. After successfully courting a mate, the female deposits up to 225 eggs into brood pouches on the male's underside. The male incubates the eggs and provides nutrients, oxygen, and water to the embryos. About two weeks later, when the young are ready to hatch they emerge the males' pouch as tiny versions of their parents. Bay pipefish camouflage well in eelgrass beds by positioning themselves vertically and staying in place for long periods of time. To feed, they wait for small prey to swim within an inch and then suck them up with small, tube-shaped mouths. (Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium)
Puget Sound salmon do drugs, which may hurt their survival #SSEC2018
Anti-depressants. Diabetes drugs. High-blood-pressure medication. Puget Sound chinook are doing our drugs, and it may be hurting them, new research shows. The metabolic disturbance evident in the fish from human drugs was severe enough that it may result not only in failure to thrive but early mortality and an inability to compete for food and habitat. The response was particularly pronounced in Puget Sound chinook — a threatened species many other animals depend on for their survival, including critically endangered southern-resident killer whales. The research built on earlier work, published in 2016, that showed juvenile Puget Sound chinook and Pacific staghorn sculpin are packing drugs including Prozac, Advil, Benadryl, and Lipitor among dozens of other drugs present in tainted wastewater discharge. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)
Trudeau travels to B.C. in support of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
Hundreds of protesters opposed to the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline demonstrated Thursday night outside a Vancouver hotel where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed a Liberal party fundraising dinner. They chanted “Kinder Morgan has got to go” as they marched several blocks through downtown to a hotel where the Liberals were meeting…. Trudeau’s speech to the fundraising event was interrupted by Cedar George-Parker, a young Indigenous leader from the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation who shouted: “The pipeline is not happening, the youth will stand up and stop it. … You lied to the people, you lied to our people.” Linda Givetash and Amy Smart report. (National Post)
B.C. chefs pen letter to government to stop salmon farming
A group of more than 50 B.C. chefs is telling the provincial government to stop salmon-farming leases in a bid to protect wild salmon. The chefs, along with environmental crusader David Suzuki, held a news conference in Vancouver on Thursday to urge B.C. to terminate 20, open net-pen, salmon-farm tenures coming up for renewal in June in the Broughton Archipelago, a wild-salmon migratory route. The group has written a letter outlining its concerns to Doug Donaldson, the B.C. minister of forests, lands, natural-resource operations and rural development, and Lana Popham, the minister of agriculture. Tiffany Crawford reports. (Vancouver Sun) See also: Fish farm companies should be required to get First Nations approval, B.C. advisory council recommends Provincial advisory council spent 18 months coming up with recommendations on fish farms (CBC)
Rare visitors! Bottlenose Dolphins living in Puget Sound
There's been a rare sighting in Puget Sound recently. A group of bottlenose dolphins has been spotted regularly over the past seven months. Researchers at the nonprofit Cascadia Research tell us this has never happened before. Aside from a few random sightings in the years since 2008, they’ve never seen the dolphins hang around in the area for this long. Bottlenose dolphins tend to live in warmer, tropical waters, not the cold waters of Puget Sound. Kathy Rusch reports. (KCPQ)
Roadblocks to housing: How NIMBYs use environmental review processes to stall affordable housing
…. Welcome to the world of SEPA, the State Environmental Protection Act, a law with a track record of protecting nature and NIMBYs from the perils of overdevelopment and the threat of living near homeless and formerly homeless people. SEPA is the Washington State version of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). Born amid the environmental movement of the 1970s, the environmental laws constitute a promise to bear in mind the consequences of development and ensure that an effort is made to mitigate negative side effects to the degree possible. Triggered under specific circumstances, SEPA and its brethren act as a governmental pause button. Ashley Archibald reports. (Real Change)
Mount Rainier, Olympic, North Cascades national parks get $1 million gift
Washington state's three national parks are planning upgrades thanks to a $1 million donation from the estate of a woman who loved the outdoors, according to Washington's National Park Fund. The recently announced gift comes from the estate of Bette Wallace, who grew up in Washington and later lived in California. Craig Hill reports. (Tacoma News Tribune) See also: Officials rethinking fee hikes: Olympic National Park officials await final plan Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)
Habitat project shores up Pat Bay
Soon, the beach at North Saanich’s Pat Bay will be a lot easier to walk upon, but the gravel being spread there is not just for people — it’s for fish habitat and protection of the shoreline. More than 3,800 tonnes of beach-grade gravel has been spread along Pat Bay, next to the Tseycum First Nation and West Saanich Road over the last few weeks. Ian Bruce, executive director of Peninsula Streams, says it’s the latest phase of a project that started in 2012. Gravel is being spread out to raise the height of the beach, which Bruce said has two purposes. The first is to reduce the impact of incoming waves on the shoreline.... Second, the height creates better habitat for small feeder fish, like sand lance and smelt, which lay microscopic eggs in the gravel. Bruce said these species provide food for other fish like salmon which, in turn, contribute to the food supply for larger mammals, like killer whales. Steven Heywood reports. (Victoria News)
Pressure Mounts on Scott Pruitt, E.P.A. Chief, as Top Advisers Eye the Exit
Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is under increased White House scrutiny over his housing and travel arrangements as some of his own senior staff are expressing growing frustration with the public criticism of their boss, according to four people, including an E.P.A. official, who have spoken with the staff members. Mr. Pruitt has emerged as one of President Trump’s top lieutenants as well as a conservative hero for his aggressiveness in loosening or undoing dozens of environmental regulations while weakening many of the agency’s clean-air and water-enforcement programs. But the series of ethical questions is threatening his good standing with the president and driving away some senior staffers. Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman report. (NY Times)
Seven positions eliminated at public radio KUOW amid restructuring of 'drive time' shows
Seattle’s public radio station KUOW is restructuring its morning and afternoon “drive time” shows and eliminating seven positions while creating seven new ones, according to an email from the station’s chief content officer, Jennifer Strachan. Employees in the soon-to-be-eliminated positions were informed that they will be invited to apply for the new spots, which were advertised on the University of Washington’s job board Thursday, but they were also warned that not all will find a good fit, according to Strachan. The change comes about two months after staffers overwhelming elected to join SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents radio and television journalists, but before employees had bargained a new contract agreement with management. Christine Clarridge reports. (Seattle Times)
Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca- 231 AM PDT Fri Apr 6 2018
GALE WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH LATE SATURDAY NIGHT
TODAY SE wind to 10 kt becoming E in the afternoon. Wind waves 1 ft or less. SW swell 7 ft at 10 seconds. Showers likely in the morning then a slight chance of showers in the afternoon.
TONIGHT SE wind 10 to 20 kt becoming E 25 to 35 kt late. Combined seas 7 to 9 ft with a dominant period of 11 seconds. A chance of rain in the evening then rain after midnight.
SAT E wind 25 to 35 kt. Combined seas 6 to 8 ft with a dominant period of 12 seconds building to 10 to 12 ft with a dominant period of 10 seconds in the afternoon. Rain.
SAT NIGHT SE wind 25 to 35 kt easing to 15 to 25 kt after midnight. Combined seas 12 to 14 ft with a dominant period of 11 seconds building to 15 to 16 ft with a dominant period of 14 seconds after midnight.
SUN W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. SW swell 14 ft at 13 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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