10/20 Sunk tug cleanup, First Nations fishing, Hood Canal honors, Port Angeles CSO

Painted turtles (NW Nature Notes)

There are no sea turtle in the Salish Sea but…
There are no sea turtle in the Salish sea but there are two native freshwater turtles in the Pacific Northwest. The Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) are seen basking on logs and rocks in lakes in summer. The Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata), once widespread in western Washington and Oregon, has disappeared from much of its range north of the Columbia River. The Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta) is an introduced species, discarded by households tired of having the turtle as a pet. (From Northwest Nature Notes)

New blog: Since The First Time I Voted For President
This year, I’ll vote for Hillary and, having said that, won’t tell you how to vote but will tell you about the first time I voted for president… (read more)

Stormy weather puts clean-up operations on hold for sunken B.C. tug
Stormy weather has paused the operation to remove thousands of litres of diesel from a sunken tug off British Columbia’s central coast. Salvage crews have recovered more than 88,000 of the estimated 200,000 litres of fuel from the Nathan E. Stewart, which ran aground and sank last week in Seaforth Channel, about 20 kilometres west of Bella Bella. The latest joint situation report says more fuel is scheduled to be emptied Wednesday, but smaller boats working on the operation have been told to stand down because of predictions of gale- to storm-force winds. Other parts of the operation, including shoreline clean-up assessment, wildlife observations and environmental sampling were also put on hold because of the forecast. The local Heiltsuk First Nation says in a news release that responders are concerned the tug may move in the storm, causing fuel to spill. (Canadian Press)

First Nations leaders say 'frustration is mounting' over fishing negotiations
First Nations on Vancouver Island are calling out Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over a lack of action on fishing rights. Several court rulings have upheld commercial fishing rights for five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations on Vancouver Island's west coast, but negotiations over the past seven years that would allow them to take part in the industry have stagnated. At a Wednesday meeting in Vancouver, they and other Indigenous leaders used the one-year anniversary of the federal Liberals being in power to express their frustrations. Liam Britten reports. (CBC)

Hood Canal awards honor local efforts to improve ecosystem
Mike Anderson, chairman of the Skokomish Watershed Action Team, and Thom Johnson, a leading expert in the recovery of Hood Canal summer chum salmon, have been named recipients of this year’s Hood Canal Environmental Awards. Other recipients of the awards, which are sponsored by Hood Canal Coordinating Council, are Shore Friendly Mason and Shore Friendly Kitsap, two programs that actively enlist waterfront property owners in the protection and restoration of their shorelines. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

Port Angeles, Combined Sewer Overflow system builder in $1 million dispute
A $1 million dispute centered on building delays and construction costs has bubbled up between city officials and the builder of key components of the city’s new $47 million Combined Sewer Overflow system, the priciest public works project in the city’s history. An auditing firm will review Bellingham-based TEK Construction Inc. records today for the city, Public Works and Utilities Director Craig Fulton told City Council members at their regular meeting Tuesday. Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  900 PM PDT WED OCT 19 2016  

THU  SW WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING 5 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.  WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. SW SWELL 8 FT AT 9 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF RAIN  IN THE MORNING...THEN SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON.
THU NIGHT  S WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 7 FT  AT 11 SECONDS. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

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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 at salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/19 Wet spots, protect Puget Sound, Vic sewer, NW tribes inspire, frankenfish, rockfish boom, bar pilot

What is the wettest place on Earth?
Those who live along the "wet coast" – which is what people living in Puget Sound or the lower mainland of British Columbia and Vancouver Island affectionately call their home – might think that they live in the wettest place on Earth. Then again, people living in the Amazon rain forest might think that there lush and beautiful home is the dampest place in the world. But in truth, all these places come up dry (pun intended!) compared to the one place that has held the title for wettest point on Earth many times in its history. And that place is none other than Mawsynram, India, which experiences an annual average rainfall of 12 meters. And yet, this curious region in northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent is an exercise in extremes, either drowning in rainwater, or starving for it. Matt Williams reports. (Universe Today/Phys.Org)

Obama administration steps up efforts to protect Puget Sound
The Obama administration on Tuesday stepped up efforts to protect Puget Sound, including forming a new federal task force to identify priorities for restoring one of the nation's largest estuaries. The task force of federal agencies will work with tribal governments and others to come up with an action plan to better coordinate programs focused on Puget Sound. The federal action represents the latest in a string of efforts over the decades to tackle pressing environmental problems in the region, including dwindling salmon runs, water pollution and the rapid loss of wetlands and other wildlife habitat. Phuong Le reports. (Associated Press)

Sewage plant plans moving too fast, says Esquimalt mayor
Esquimalt is worried plans to break ground on the new sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point in February will overload their municipal staff. Mayor Barb Desjardins is calling the timetable “incredibly aggressive” given the workload it puts on Esquimalt municipal staff…. Esquimalt councillors this week received a letter from sewage treatment project board chair Janet Bird outlining the next steps to getting Esquimalt’s approval of the sewage treatment plant so construction can start. In her letter, Bird offered resources and consultants, and to pay legal fees to help Esquimalt process the application. Bill Cleverley report. (Times Colonist)

United in fossil-fuel fight, NW tribes inspire N.D. pipeline foes
In a historic tribal gathering in North Dakota, members from more than 300 native nations have joined the effort to block construction of a $3.8 billion oil pipeline through the Standing Rock Sioux’s ancestral lands. Among those protesters is Bill James, the traditional tribal chief of the Lummi Tribe in northwest Washington, who traveled to the camp in North Dakota recently with more than a dozen fellow tribal members and a trailer full of salmon caught in their traditional waters. The Lummi also provided something else: an example of tribal success in battling fossil-fuel energy projects. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Groups challenge federal approval of genetically modified salmon in court
Environmental groups head to court today [Tuesday] to challenge a Federal Court ruling which upheld the government's earlier approval of genetically modified salmon…. In 2013, Environment Canada approved the production of genetically modified salmon eggs by the biotechnology company AquaBounty in a facility in P.E.I. AquaBounty claims its genetically modified Atlantic salmon egg — which uses genes from the eel-like ocean pout  — allows the fish to grow twice as large. (CBC)

Record number of juvenile yellowtail and black rockfish recorded
For a full week this September, the underwater rock walls and kelp forests of the San Juan Islands swarmed with clipboard-carrying scuba divers taking part in an annual study co-sponsored by SeaDoc and The Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Among all the fish and invertebrates encountered during 100 survey dives, the drysuited citizen scientists and expert critter counters were blown away by how many YOYs they found. Young-of-the-Year, or YOY, is marine biology speak for baby fish, and what the dive teams saw weren't just any old fingerlings, but juvenile yellowtail and black rockfish…. Rockfish baby booms, called "jackpot recruitment events," happen sporadically and likely only when water temperature, climate, predator abundance, and other conditions are just right. Researchers haven't yet been able to correlate jackpot events to subsequent increases in adult fish populations, but with our Salish Sea rockfish populations on the ropes from overfishing, the more babies they pump out the better. Bob Friel writes. (Islands Sounder)

The Dangerous Life Of A Columbia River Bar Pilot
Imagine a stretch of water so dangerous even huge ships can’t cross it safely. A place sailors call the “graveyard,” where hundreds of boats have sunk and thousands of people have drowned. Now imagine this place is crucial to the global economy, and like it or not, shipping vessels must enter it every day to keep things moving and avoid economic collapse. Such a place exists in the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia River Bar, located at the intersection of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, is considered one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world. (EarthFix)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  300 AM PDT WED OCT 19 2016  

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH LATE  TONIGHT  
TODAY  SE WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT  13 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT  SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT  12 SECONDS. RAIN.

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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 at salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/18 Tug sinking, oil spilling, Tacoma LNG promises, promises

(PHOTO: Crystal Green/BirdNote)

Where Birds Go to Die
Birds seem to be all around us. But we rarely come across those that have died. And why? When birds suffer from illness or injury, they often seek safe, secluded places — hidden from view and potential predators. So when death comes, a bird’s body is hidden. And it doesn’t persist for long. Scavengers salvage what they can. Nutrients from the body return to the earth, enriching the soil. And small animals may consume the bones, a rich source of calcium. Soon, all that’s left are the feathers — reminders of the bird’s grace and beauty during its lifetime. (BirdNote)

B.C. government’s lack of progress on oil spill response highlighted by tug accident
In 2012 the B.C. government set out five conditions that must be met before the province supports two proposed pipelines that would greatly increase tanker traffic on the West Coast. No.2 on that list is the establishment of a “world-leading marine oil spill response, prevention and recovery system.” Last week the lack of progress on that point was underlined in dramatic fashion when U.S.-registered tug Nathan E. Stewart ran aground while pushing a huge fuel barge in a narrow passage just north of Bella Bella. Fortunately for the Great Bear Rainforest and the Heiltsuk people who live there, barge DBL 55 was empty. But an incident report filed in 2011 by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation gives a sense of how bad the accident could have been, had the 91-metre fuel barge been loaded. On Dec. 21 that year, the same tug and barge combination went adrift after an engine failed near Cape Fairweather, in the Gulf of Alaska. Mark Hume reports. (Globe and Mail) See also: Diesel spill near Bella Bella an 'environmental disaster,' says nearby First Nation  (CBC)

Deal on Tacoma LNG plant would alter 2008 promise by PSE’s parent company
For more than a year, state utilities regulators have grappled with a simple question about the complex financial machinations attached to Puget Sound Energy’s proposed liquified natural gas plant: Will this put ratepayers at risk? After protracted negotiation, PSE, the Utilities and Transportation Commission staff and a handful of other parties say they have worked out a compromise that claims, repeatedly, that the answer is no. Their agreement lays out an intricate system of split ownership and management for the LNG plant between the utility and the private investor group that owns it. This week, the agreement goes before a judge, who will hear public comments and evidence about the deal before deciding whether he approves. If the deal wins approval, it will alter a pledge Puget Sound Energy’s Australia-based owners made to state and federal regulators to win permission to buy the utility in 2008. The regulators’ approval came with a written agreement that Puget Energy — the holding company that owns Puget Sound Energy — would not own or operate another business besides the utility company. The proposal to make and sell LNG as a subsidiary company would be barred under that agreement. Derrick Nunnally reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  242 AM PDT TUE OCT 18 2016  

TODAY  SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 8  FT AT 11 SECONDS. SCATTERED SHOWERS.
TONIGHT  SW WIND TO 10 KT...BECOMING SE AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND  WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 9 FT AT 12 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 at salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/17 Storm?, sunk tug, coal trains, Burley 'duck, Elwha fish, school salmon, foul waters, TacomaLNG, dinofish

PHOTO: Port Townsend (Stuart @yrpstu/KOMO)

What the heck went wrong with the storm forecast?!?
Well, this storm certainly will go down as one meteorologists will be talking about for years... just not in the way it was expected. What was computed -- even as of Saturday morning -- to rank among the region's greats ended up woefully under developing. What was supposed to be a lion turned out to be something more along the lines of a lizard with maybe a bit of an attitude… Scott Sistek reports. (KOMO) See also: Tempest in a teapot as third storm fizzles on South Coast  Cheryl Chan reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Fuel to be removed from sunk tug boat in Bella Bella 
On Monday, crews hope to begin removing the remaining fuel aboard a tug boat that ran aground in the waters near Bella Bella — allowing the Nathan E. Stewart to be lifted from the ocean and onto a barge for transport…. The Nathan E. Stewart and the empty fuel barge DBL 55 crashed on Edge Reef, in Seaforth Channel near Athlone Island, just after 1 a.m. PT on Thursday. Both are owned by the U.S. company Kirby Offshore Marine and were heading south from Alaska when the accident occurred. While the fuel barge was empty, the tug leaked some of the nearly 200,000 litres of fuel it had left port with. Chad Pawson reports. (CBC)
 
More coal trains? Company says it’s exporting to Asia through a B.C. port
A company with coal mines in Wyoming and Montana said Thursday, Oct. 13 that it’s begun exporting fuel to Asia through a Canadian port –pulling out of a planned export terminal in Oregon and potentially sending more coal trains through Whatcom County. According to the announcement from Lighthouse Resources, Inc., the company began shipping coal to power plants in South Korea this month through Westshore Terminals in Vancouver, B.C., a boost for a beleaguered industry that’s been in a prolonged tailspin. The company declined to give shipment volumes. (Associated Press/Bellingham Herald)

Agencies officially stop EIS work on Shell rail project
State and county agencies announced Thursday that environmental review work has officially stopped for the rail unloading facility project at Shell Puget Sound Refinery, a week after the refinery called off the project.A letter dated Oct. 11 from refinery project manager Burt Newbry to the state Department of Ecology and Skagit County Planning and Development asked the agencies to stop their work on an environmental impact statement for the project. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Department of Natural Resources reschedules public meeting to Tuesday on expansions of two conservation areas
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has rescheduled the public hearing for proposals to expand two DNR-managed conservation areas near Quilcene in Jefferson County due to travel safety advisories related to storm conditions in northwestern Washington. The public hearing will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. next Tuesday, Oct. 25 in the Quilcene High School multi-purpose room, 294715 U.S. Highway 101. (Peninsula Daily News)

Big geoduck farm planned in Burley Lagoon
A large shellfish farm proposed on a south Kitsap Peninsula lagoon will undergo special scrutiny over its potential impacts on water quality and wildlife. Taylor Shellfish, the state's largest shellfish grower, plans to convert existing commercial shellfish beds in Burley Lagoon to one of the region's largest geoduck-growing operations. The 25-acre tideland would be covered with a grid of plastic tubes and mesh that protect the large clam's seed during its first years. Plastic netting would be draped over the area as an added barrier to predators. The lagoon is in Pierce County, just south of the Kitsap County border and about 5 miles from Gig Harbor. The area Taylor wants to convert to intensive geoduck cultivation is scatter-planted with oysters and clams, and has much less of a visual and environmental impact, according to environmental groups opposed to geoduck farming. Tristan Baurick reports. (Kitsap Sun)

More Elwha fish find way to dam-free upper watershed
More sockeye, chinook and bull trout have made it above the former Glines Canyon dam site so far this spawning season than documented in any year since the unprecedented dam-removal project was completed on the Elwha River. The fish returns this season are an encouraging sign that blasting work in the river last summer to improve passage after initial dam removal has made a difference. Numbers aren’t yet final, but so far snorkel surveys and radio telemetry used by scientists to track and monitor fish throughout the Elwha show that from the end of July through the end of September, about 70 chinook salmon made it above the former Glines Canyon dam site. The farthest the fish have been seen upriver so far is at river mile 29. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Fauntleroy Creek Salmon in the Schools program will swim on
After months of not knowing if the Fauntleroy Creek Salmon in the Schools program would continue uninterrupted as it has for more than 20 years, word came late last week that it will. The program centers on coho fry released by schoolchildren. Ten elementary schools and three preschools in West Seattle receive coho eggs in January and students rear the fish while learning about biology, habitat, and the role of salmon in Pacific Northwest environment, commerce, and culture. Nearly 800 students came to the creek this past spring on release field trips, bringing 1,800 coho fry. Dennis Hinton reports. (West Seattle Blog)

Look out, salmon: Storm pushes foul waste into Seattle waters
Wind and heavy rain could make this weekend tough for Puget Sound dwellers. The storm could be rough on the sound's underwater residents as well. Big storms mean big water pollution as heavy runoff carries toxic crud into local waters, and as city sewer systems can't keep up. Along shorelines in Seattle and Puget Sound, outfall pipes dump raw sewage and runoff whenever heavy rains, like those expected this weekend, overwhelm the sewer system.  By Friday morning, 12 of these "combined sewer overflow" pipes had begun dumping an unhealthy mix straight into Seattle waters, according to King County's real-time "combined sewer overflow" monitoring: five outfalls on the Duwamish River, two along the Seattle Ship Canal, two on Portage Bay, one at Carkeek Park, one on Elliott Bay and one in West Seattle. John Ryan reports. (KUOW)

PSE drops one court fight against LNG records release, continues another
Puget Sound Energy on Friday dropped its court fight to keep safety studies of its proposed Tacoma liquified natural gas plant secret after The News Tribune published the records. In a filing with the state Court of Appeals, PSE said it was abandoning its lawsuit to block the public-records releases of the siting study and fire protection evaluation for its Tideflats LNG plant to three activists who requested them from government agencies. The utility company also sued to block The News Tribune from getting the documents via a public records request.  Derrick Nunnally reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Dinosaur-era 'swordfish' discovered in outback Australia
"Extremely rare" fossils from a swordfish-like creature which lived 100 million years ago have been discovered in the Australian outback. Two families on holiday unearthed the prehistoric predator at a free fossil-finding site in north-west Queensland. The remains are thought to be from the Australopachycormus hurleyi, a 3m-long ray-finned fish with a pointed snout. (BBC)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  249 AM PDT MON OCT 17 2016  

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON  

TODAY  SE WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING 5 TO 15 KT IN THE  AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT OR LESS IN THE  AFTERNOON. W SWELL 10 FT AT 11 SECONDS. NUMEROUS SHOWERS.  TONIGHT  SW WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING TO 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.  WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 9 FT AT 11 SECONDS. SHOWERS  LIKELY.

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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 at salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/14 Bella Bella oil spill, orcas & coho, birds & I-732, foreign fisherman rule

Bob Dylan (Michael Ochs/Getty/New Yorker)

Let’s Celebrate the Bob Dylan Nobel Win
God is a colossal joker, isn’t She? We went to bed last night having learned that the Man Who Will Not Go Away was, according to the Times, no mere purveyor of “locker-room talk”; no, he has been, in fact, true to his own boasts, a man of vile action. The Times report  was the latest detail, the latest brushstroke, in the ever-darkening portrait of an American grotesque. Then came the news, early this morning, that Bob Dylan, one of the best among us, a glory of the country and of the language, had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ring them bells! What an astonishing and unambiguously wonderful thing! David Remick reports. (The New Yorker)

Petroleum barge runs aground near Bella Bella on Canada’s west coast
The grounding of a petroleum barge near Bella Bella has local indigenous groups and activists concerned about the impact on marine food sources and the future of tanker traffic along the B.C. coast. The tug Nathan E. Stewart and barge DBL 55, owned by the Texas-based Kirby Corporation, ran aground at Edge Reef in Seaforth Channel just after 1 a.m. Thursday. The articulated tug-barge combo was on its way back to Vancouver from Alaska at the time and the 287-foot fuel barge was empty, but the tug quickly began leaking diesel into the water. The tug had about 50,000 gallons of diesel at the beginning of its trip. Seven crew members were on board, but no one was injured. Bethany Lindsay reports. (Vancouver Sun) See also: Clam beds at risk after sinking tug spills fuel near Bella Bella, says local First Nation  Megan Thomas reports. (CBC) If you like to watch: 10,000 Ton Texas Tanker traveling the B.C. Coast  The Nathan E. Stewart/DBL 54 is an articulated tug/barge" (ATB) and is owned by the Texas-based Kirby Corporation, which is one of the largest petroleum product ATB operators in the USA. It travels back and forth up the B.C. Inside Passage by “special waiver" which exempts it from Transport Canada shipping regulations.  Ingmar Lee and Pacific Wild report.

Orcas starting to follow chum salmon into Central Puget Sound
Chum salmon are beginning to make their way into Central and South Puget Sound, which means the orcas are likely to follow. Given this year’s dismal reports of chinook salmon in the San Juan Islands, we can hope that a decent number of chum traveling to streams farther south will keep the killer whales occupied through the fall. But anything can happen. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

Birds, birds, birds and the threat they can't escape
Birds exist everywhere we do, so it's little wonder that they have been important to human culture from time immemorial. Their songs thrill along with their incredible display of speed and strength.  Audubon has been dedicated to ensuring their survival since it was  founded in 1905. From its work in stopping the sale of feathers of native birds for the fashion industry, to the ban of DDT in 1972,  the organization has been on the front lines of conservation and grassroots advocacy. In this bird rich radio feature, we take a look at Audubon's work in Washington state and why they support I-732, the carbon tax. Martha Baskin reports. (Green Acre Radio)

State agency opposes rule change for foreign fishermen
A group of Hawaii residents want to change local rules for issuing commercial fishing licenses and make the process more transparent after an Associated Press investigation found that hundreds of undocumented fishermen work in the fleet. A federal loophole allows the foreign men to work but exempts them from most basic labor protections, and some residents are concerned that state rules offer little transparency and leave workers in the dark….The petition asks for rule changes that include certifying that license applicants understand and have read the paperwork they are signing, but a state agency recommends the changes not be implemented. The foreign fishermen who work in the fleet often do not read, write or understand English and therefore cannot legitimately agree to terms of the license, petitioners said Wednesday. In a document signed by Bruce Anderson, the administrator for the Division of Aquatic Resources, the department recommends denying the rule changes because the petition focuses on labor issues that are outside the department’s jurisdiction. (Associated Press)

Now, your thank-goodness-for-tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  258 AM PDT FRI OCT 14 2016  

GALE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM PDT THIS MORNING
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM PDT THIS MORNING  THROUGH THIS EVENING  
TODAY  S WIND 25 TO 35 KT...BECOMING SW 20 TO 30 KT IN THE  AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS 12 TO 14 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF  15 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 16 TO 17 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF  11 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN.
TONIGHT  SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING S TO 10 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FT OR LESS AFTER  MIDNIGHT. SW SWELL 19 FT AT 13 SECONDS...BECOMING W AT 13 SECONDS  AFTER MIDNIGHT. SHOWERS.
SAT  SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING E 30 TO 40 KT IN THE  AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS 10 TO 12 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF  14 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY IN THE MORNING...THEN RAIN IN THE  AFTERNOON.
SAT NIGHT  E WIND 40 TO 50 KT...BECOMING SW 15 TO 25 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. COMBINED SEAS 10 TO 13 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF  14 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 9 TO 10 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF  13 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
SUN  S WIND TO 10 KT...BECOMING SE 5 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.  WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 8 FT AT 12 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 at salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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10/13 Elwha nearshore, stormy weather, conservation areas, sea lion research, 6 years of news

Elwha nearshore 10.11.16 (Tom Roorda/CWI)

Elwha nearshore October 11, 2016
Anne Shaffer of Coastal Watershed Institute writes: "These are last calm hours before the first big system of the season. Our work with collaborators over the decades has revealed that the physical beach forming processes of the Elwha nearshore are complex and vary seasonally. These seasonal changes are critical for ecological process of the central Strait of Juan de Fuca. An example? Surf smelt spawning. How do we know this? Our decades of monitoring. As the Elwha evolves there is still so much to learn…"

2 Big Storms Coming To Western Wash.; Conflicting Models On Whether Saturday's Will Be Historic
Very stormy weather is on its way to Western Washington. Forecasters have issued a high wind warning starting Thursday evening at 6 p.m., through Friday morning at 7. That means there could be gusts of up to 55 miles per hour and there will be several inches of rain, especially in the mountains. KNKX weather expert Cliff Mass says get ready for lots of power outages….But he says what people are really concerned about is Saturday. A storm is approaching that was a typhoon – Songda – and is deepening to a pressure level that we have not seen in years.  It’s comparable to the historic Columbus Day Storm of 1962, which killed at least 46 people. Mass says the American and European forecast models have different trajectories for its path right now. He says if the European model is correct, the storm could cross through Seattle and the Puget Sound area, with the strongest winds hitting from Olympia to Portland. David Nogueras reports. (KNKX) See also: Typhoon Songda remnants expected to pound B.C.'s South Coast this weekend  Lisa Johnson reports. (CBC)

Department of Natural Resources to hold public meeting tonight on expansions of two conservation areas
The state Department of Natural Resources will hold a second public meeting tonight to gather input on proposed boundary expansions for two conservation areas in Jefferson County. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. in the Quilcene High School multipurpose room, 294715 U.S. Highway 101, and is expected to last until roughly 8 p.m. John Gamon will represent DNR. The proposal was presented to county commissioners in September and, if approved, would expand the boundaries of the Devils Lake and Dabob Bay conservation areas. Cydney McFarland reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Sea lion research: Open Water Research Station, Port Moody, faces axe
A unique, long-term study involving Steller sea lions in Burrard Inlet faces being scrapped after the U.S. government stopped funding the project. The University of B.C.’s Open Water Research Station in Port Moody, opened in 2003, is now scrambling to find donors in hopes the facility can remain open — not just to study sea lions, but also local harbour seals and invasive species transported through international shipping. Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

New blog: Salish Sea News and Weather Begins 6th Year
Salish Sea News and Weather enters its sixth year of weekday compilations. It actually began in 2007 as Puget Sound News and Weather when the real People For Puget Sound was in action and became Salish Sea News and Weather after I was fired in 2011. So, has anything changed over the years? (Read on…)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  325 AM PDT THU OCT 13 2016  

GALE WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING    
TODAY  SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT EARLY...BECOMING E 5 TO 15 KT. WIND  WAVES 2 TO 4 FT EARLY...SUBSIDING 2 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL 9 FT AT  13 SECONDS. RAIN.
TONIGHT  E WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING SE 25 TO 35 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...BUILDING TO 4 TO 6 FT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 16 SECONDS. RAIN.

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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 at salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

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Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

10/12 Bil C-228, pipe protest, Vic stormwater, SRKW return, deadly 'shroom, greasy pipes, Clallam MRC

Captain James T. Kirk (The Guardian)

Captain Kirk beams in to back wild salmon protection bill
Fin Donnelly has landed a big fish in his campaign to protect B.C.'s wild salmon. This morning, the Port Moody—Coquitlam M.P. unveiled a video message from William Shatner — Captain Kirk himself — encouraging Canadians to rally behind Donnelly's private members bill. "Wild salmon," said the 85-year-old Canadian actor, "are a national treasure. But their future is in jeopardy. They are under threat from sea lice and disease from open net farming." Bill C-228 proposes the federal government amend the Fisheries Act to require all open net fin-fish farms on the Pacific Coast to transition to closed containment systems within five years. Karin Larsen reports. (CBC)

Northwest Activists Arrested After Shutting Down Canada-To-US Oil Pipelines 
Protesters -- all from the Pacific Northwest -- were arrested Tuesday at all five sites across the northern U.S. where pipelines deliver oil from Canada’s oil sands to American refineries. The pipelines cross the U.S.-Canadian border in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Washington state. Across the country nine people were arrested. They all came from Washington and Oregon. Five of the arrested were activists who closed the pipeline valves and four were people video-recording or livestreaming their actions, said Afrin Sopariwala of Climate Direct Action. Ashley Ahearn reports. (KUOW/EarthFix) See also: Activists arrested after shutting down oil pipeline in Anacortes  Allison Morrow reports. (KING)

Victoria issues new utility bill for stormwater runoff
A new utility bill will arrive in Victoria mailboxes this month. The city is now charging people separately for stormwater runoff that leaves their properties. Funds for dealing with stormwater in Victoria were previously collected through property taxes and were based on the value of a property.  The new user-pay system ties the cost of managing stormwater directly to how much water is expected to run off a particular property. Megan Thomas reports. (CBC)

If you like to watch: Photos: resident orca pods return to Puget Sound
The Southern Resident Killer Whales in the J and K pods have returned to Puget Sound. According to the Orca Network, both pods crossed Admiralty Inlet last week, and continued south towards Point No Point, near Hansville. Whale watchers said this move typically happens around this time of year. (KOMO)

Deadliest mushroom in world on the rise in B.C.
To the untrained eye, it's a plain-looking white mushroom, popping up in yards and boulevards of Vancouver, Victoria and the Fraser Valley. But experts recognize Amanita phalloides — the so-called death cap mushroom that poisoned someone in Victoria this week — as the deadliest mushroom in the world, responsible for an estimated 90 per cent of fatal poisonings worldwide. Twenty years ago, it hadn't been spotted in B.C. But now, the death cap is growing in prevalence in urban areas of the South Coast, prompting a warning from health officials last month. Lisa Johnson reports. (CBC)

Richmond sewers like 'blocked arteries' with grease buildup
Metro Vancouver is stepping up the fight to prolong the life of the region's sewer pipes by educating people who dump grease, fats and oil down the drain. Devin Kiyonaga, a project engineer for liquid waste services at Metro Vancouver, said while grease in the pipes is a region-wide problem, it's specifically targeting Richmond. "Richmond probably has some of the worst issues, because they're so flat. You don't have a lot of flow, it's slow moving. There's also a lot of cooking with oils in that area," he explained. While dumping grease down the drain can cause problems for individual homeowners, it can also expand out into the larger sewer system. In fact, Metro Vancouver spends $2 million every year in the region to repair damage caused by grease. (CBC)

Funding renewed for Clallam County Marine Resources Committee
Clallam County has renewed an annual agreement for the continued operation of the Clallam Marine Resources Committee. The three commissioners Tuesday approved the one-year, $72,050 grant from the state Department of Ecology to fund the committee’s restoration, conservation and education projects. Such projects include Olympia oyster restoration in Sequim Bay, marine debris removal, kelp monitoring and oil spill preparedness, prevention and response, according to the agreement. The committee also sponsors community events and runs an internship program. Rob Ollikainen reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  305 AM PDT WED OCT 12 2016  

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT  
TODAY  E WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 2 FT  AT 14 SECONDS.
TONIGHT  SE WIND 20 TO 30 KT...EASING LATE. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5  FT...SUBSIDING. W SWELL 3 FT AT 14 SECONDS. RAIN.

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