9/23 Salish Sea News & Weather: Partnership criticized, FEMA salmon, Chinook return, Brightwater costs, Clayoqout plastics, Trans Mountain oil, mean fish

It’s Fall; can you feel it?

Chris Dunagan of the Kitsap Sun reports on a preliminary audit by the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee that found the Puget Sound Partnership didn’t do a very good job in following its legal mandate in carrying out its 2008 Action Agenda. But things will get better, the Partnership promises.  Legislative audit criticizes Puget Sound Partnership

Yesterday’s deadline came and went for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure that 122 Puget Sound communities met minimum building standards that don’t harm fish habitat. FEMA says it’s doing just that; the National Wildlife Federation says it isn’t and will sue them.  Group: FEMA policies in Puget Sound harm salmon
 
Colleen Armstrong at the Islands Sounder reports that Orcas Island’s Glenwood Springs Hatchery has a record Chinook return this year despite a glitch last week of some fish dying because of the planned overnight power outage in the islands. Record number of chinook salmon returning to Glenwood Springs hatchery this year

Uh, oh. The grand celebration for the Brightwater sewage-treatment plant is scheduled for Saturday but there’s dispute over how much exiting customers pay versus new customers throughout King County pay. Brightwater costs debated

Plastics everywhere. Yasmin Aboelsaud reports that University of Washington Tacoma researchers collecting microplastic debris in Clayoqout Sound found more polystyrene in the surface of the water compared to areas in Puget Sound. American researchers study microplastic debris in Clayoquot

Moving oil. The Trans Mountain pipeline moves crude oil  and refined products to the western coasts of the U.S. and Canada, and is expected to carry in its mainline 281,000 barrels a day in October and 140,855 barrels a day in its Puget Sound section. Kinder Trans Mountain Oil pipeline exceeded capacity by 52% in October

Mean fish. “An angry glare from the family goldfish might not be the result of a missed meal, but a too-humble abode. Fish in a cramped, barren space turn mean, a study from Case Western Reserve University has found. Ornamental fishes across the U.S. might be at risk, all 182.9 million of them.” Aquarium Fishes Are More Aggressive in Reduced Environments, New Study Finds

Now, your weekend tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT FRI SEP 23 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
  TODAY
 S WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING LATE. W SWELL 8 FT AT 11 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG EARLY IN THE MORNING. CHANCE OF RAIN.
 TONIGHT
 S WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 11 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN. PATCHY FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT.
 SAT
 SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS. PATCHY MORNING FOG.
 SAT NIGHT
 LIGHT WIND BECOMING SE 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 7 FT.
 SUN
 SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...THEN BECOMING SW LATE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 8 FT.

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