5/31 Cape Scott, white killer whale, Columbia chinook, sewage spill, returning garbage, BC pipe, starving puffins, local news

Cape Scott

Cape Scott Provincial Park
Cape Scott Provincial Park is a provincial park located at the cape of the same name, which is the northwestern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1973 with about 37,200 acres, and later expanded to approximately 22,294 hectares. The Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations created trails through the area that includes the park, using these trails for trade, to harvest resources, and to visit locations that were considered sacred. Three First Nations reserves are within the park, including the former village of Nahwitti. In 1786, the area was named "Cape Scott" in honour of David Scott, a merchant of Mumbai (Bombay), who had backed James Strange's maritime fur trade voyage to the Pacific Northwest Coast.  (Wikipedia)

Rare white killer whale spotted in B.C. waters
A rare, young white killer whale has been spotted and photographed in the waters off Nanaimo, B.C. Researchers say it's been a decade since anyone's seen an orca like that in provincial waters."I had heard about them before, but I never thought in my life I would see one with my own eyes," said Val Watson, a naturalist with Vancouver Island Whale Watch. "I was just amazed." (CBC)

Chinook bust on the Columbia: Spring returns worse than forecast on Northwest's largest river
Darren Ogden hefted the big chinook salmon, meaty and lustrous, a rare and welcome sight in a bad year for returns of adult spring chinook.Fish managers have had to downgrade their forecasts regarding spring chinook returning to the Columbia River twice, from an already gloomy outlook with returns so far at 30% below initial projections, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).... The chinook bust is puzzling fish managers. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Sewage spills into Percival Creek, prompting warning about water contact in area
People are being urged to avoid contact with the water in Percival Creek, Capitol Lake and inner Budd Inlet after a large volume of sewage spilled at South Puget Sound Community College’s Olympia campus earlier in the week. The spill occurred south of parking lot H at SPSCC and contaminated Percival Creek downstream from a construction site. Public health officials are asking people and pets to avoid water contact until testing shows all the downstream water bodies are safe, a Thurston County Public Health news release said. (Olympian)

Canadian garbage on its way from Philippines to Vancouver
Sixty-nine shipping containers of fetid trash are on their way back to Canada, after being loaded onto a container ship in the Philippines port of Subic. The last container was put aboard the MV Bavaria shortly after 3 a.m. Friday in the Philippines. Earlier in the day, Philippines Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin posted video and photos to his Twitter account showing the containers being loaded onto the ship. (Canadian Press)

Alberta government targets Horgan, high gas prices in new pro-pipeline ad campaign
The province of Alberta is hoping to sway British Columbians with a $1.1 million ad campaign supporting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. More than 30 billboards are going up around the Lower Mainland, as well as newspaper, radio and social media ads alluding to high gas prices and targeting Premier John Horgan. Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage, who travelled to Vancouver to promote the campaign, said it will run until June 18 when the federal government is expected to deliver its decision regarding the future of the pipeline. (CBC)

Puffins found starving to death in mass die-off likely linked to climate change, study suggests
Thousands of tufted puffins in the Bering Sea are dead partly because of starvation and stress brought on by changing climate conditions, researchers say. The puffins' food supply has been disrupted by changes in air and sea temperature, and in winter ice levels, according to a new study in the journal PLOS ONE. Tufted puffins normally feed on krill and small fish; food that is now going to bigger predators than the orange-beaked seabirds. Kelsey Mohammed reports. (CBC)

What is the future of local news in Tacoma?
InvestigateWest Executive Director Robert McClure recently spoke as part of a panel on “The Future of Our Local Press” at the University of Puget Sound, sponsored by the City Club of Tacoma and the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County. (Investigate West)


Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  300 AM PDT Fri May 31 2019   
TODAY  W wind 5 to 15 kt rising to 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. SW swell 4 ft at 15 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. SW swell 5 ft at 13 seconds. 
SAT  W wind to 10 kt rising to 15 to 20 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 1 ft or less building to 2 or 3 ft. W swell 5 ft at 10  seconds. 
SAT NIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming SW to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 7  seconds. 
SUN  Light wind becoming NW 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 8 seconds.

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