4/3 Pipeline hearings, steelhead hold, landslide fish, GMO fish, ocean reserves

Seal in moonlight (Grant Auton/BBC)

If you like to watch: Mammal Photographer of the Year
Winning images from The Mammal Society’s second annual competition (BBC)

NEB criticized for culling list of participants for Trans Mountain pipeline review
The National Energy Board has come under fire for restricting the number of people permitted to participate in the review process for the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project in British Columbia. More than 2,100 individuals, aboriginal groups, companies and organizations applied to participate in the coming hearings, which will examine the suitability of a project that will twin an existing line, increasing capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels of oil per day. In announcing the list of participants Wednesday, the NEB stated it “considered each application and has determined that 400 will participate as intervenors and 1,250 as commenters.” That might sound like a lot of people got approved, said NDP MP Kennedy Stewart, whose Burnaby riding will be crossed by the expanded pipeline. He thinks far too many got rejected or got limited status. Mark Hume reports. (Globe and Mail) See also: Trans Mountain pipeline hearings set for January 2015 (Vancouver Sun)

Wash. Puts Release Of Hatchery Steelhead On Hold
State fish managers are halting their plans to release juvenile steelhead into Puget Sound rivers this spring. This decision comes in response to a lawsuit filed by wild fish advocates. The Wild Fish Conservancy sued the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, contending that the agency’s planting of early winter hatchery steelhead violates the Endangered Species Act. In response, agency officials have decided not to release more than 900,000 juvenile Chambers Creek steelhead in Puget Sound rivers. Katie Campbell reports. (EarthFix)

The landslide's fish fallout: Collateral damage on the Stillaguamish
he Stillaguamish River's runs of Chinook salmon and steelhead, ­­both species listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act, could become two more unforeseen casualties of March's Oso, Wash. landslide. "It's sort of a wait­-and-­see situation right now," said Craig Bartlett, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The landslide killed the eggs in the nests buried deep underneath its mud, but it will take years before the impact on the Chinook and steelhead runs can be determined. That's because this year's fry, which typically spawns both up and downstream of the mudslide, has yet to return to the river, according to Bartlett. John Stang reports. (Crosscut)

Engineered salmon may be a tough sell
Don't expect to find genetically modified salmon -- or any other engineered fish or meat -- on store shelves anytime soon. The Obama administration has stalled for more than four years on deciding whether to approve a fast-growing salmon that would be the first genetically modified animal approved for human consumption. During that time, opponents of the technology have taken advantage of increasing consumer concern about genetically modified foods and urged several major retailers not to sell it. So far, two of the nation's biggest grocers, Safeway and Kroger, have pledged to keep the salmon off their shelves if it is approved. Mary Clare Jalonick reports. (Associated Press)

Should We Close Part Of The Ocean To Keep Fish On The Plate?
For lovers of fatty tuna belly, canned albacore and swordfish kebabs, here's a question: Would you be willing to give them up for several years so that you could eat them perhaps for the rest of your life? If a new proposal to ban fishing on the open ocean were to fly, that's essentially what we might be faced with. It's an idea that might help restore the populations of several rapidly disappearing fish – like tuna, swordfish and marlin — that we, and future generations, might like to continue to have as a food source. The novel conservation plan, introduced recently in a paper in the journal PLoS Biology, would close international waters – where there's currently pretty much a fishing free-for-all — to all fishing and restrict commercial fishermen to coastal areas managed by individual nations. The authors, Crow White and Christopher Costello, suggest turning the open ocean into a worldwide reserve for the migratory species that travel huge distances. (NPR)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 254 AM PDT THU APR 3 2014
TODAY
SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 12 SECONDS. RAIN
 LIKELY THIS MORNING...THEN RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT
SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SW AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 12 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 6 FT
 AT 16 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. RAIN...THEN SHOWERS LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT
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