4/27 Inky, BC ferry, Ballard Locks, sea lion, dead whale

Inky (National Aquarium of New Zealand/New Yorker)

Inky the Octopus and the Upsides of Anthropomorphism
A new book by the Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal argues that seeing human-like traits in other species can deepen our understanding of animal behavior. Rachel Riederer reports. (New Yorker)

Clipper’s Victoria-Vancouver ferry won’t set sail until spring 2017
 A passenger ferry service that will link Vancouver and Victoria’s harbours will not set sail for its inaugural voyage this spring as originally planned. Instead, Seattle-based Clipper will launch the connector service in spring 2017, the company said in a news release Tuesday…. [The] company is delaying the launch so it can focus on finding the right vessel to travel across the challenging Salish Sea. (CTV)

Making the cut: The locks by the numbers
Puget Sound Maritime researcher Joe Baar gives us some insights into the monumental undertaking that was and is the Ballard Locks. This is one of an occasional series of essays commemorating the centennial of the Ballard Locks and the Ship Canal. By 1854 a navigable connection between Lake Washington and Puget Sound to allow movement of logs, milled lumber, and fishing vessels between these bodies of water was being discussed sporadically. After the Civil War, in 1867 the U.S. Navy endorsed a canal project, which included the idea of constructing a naval shipyard on Lake Washington. In 1891 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began planning the project; some preliminary work occurred in 1906…. (Three Sheets Northwest)

Grays Harbor cattle farm sea lion meets unhappy ending
A sea lion that swam and waddled at least 50 miles from the ocean into an Oakville cattle farm was found dead on Friday in Olympia. Samples from a necropsy were being shipped out Tuesday, but no immediate cause of death could be found. The long, strange journey for the male California sea lion began sometime before April 15. That’s when a cattle farmer near Oakville, a small community northwest of Centralia, found the animal in the driveway of his farm. Craig Sailor reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Researchers: Whale found dead off Vashon was ‘normal occurrence’
A gray whale that was reported dead off of Vashon last week likely died of starvation, whale experts say, though it is not yet clear if there were additional causes that contributed to the animal's condition. Researchers retrieved the whale from the water between Vashon's north end and Fauntleroy on April 19 and towed it to a remote location in the south sound, where they conducted the necropsy on the 29-foot long cetacean last Wednesday. The same whale, estimated to be a 15-month old male, was in the news earlier in the month, after it was spotted in the Ballard locks. While some who saw the whale there were excited, experts cautioned that that the animal was likely sick, given its atypical behavior. Sue Riemer reports. (Vashon Beachcomber)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  300 AM PDT WED APR 27 2016  

TODAY  LIGHT WIND...BECOMING NW 5 TO 15 KT THIS AFTERNOON. WIND  WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS. A SLIGHT CHANCE  OF SHOWERS.

TONIGHT  W WIND 10 TO 20 KT...EASING AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES  1 TO 3 FT...SUBSIDING. W SWELL 7 TO 8 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

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