8/15 Mapmaker, vessel poop, forage fish, OCNMS, grizzlies, boat job, park pass, fuel rules, media rules

Point No Point [US Lighthouse Society]

Point No Point
Point No Point is an outcropping of land on the northeast point of the Kitsap Peninsula…. It was the location of the signing of the Point No Point Treaty and is the site of the Point No Point Light. It was named by Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition of Puget Sound in 1841. Wilkes gave the point its name because it appears much less of a promontory at close range than it does from a distance. (Wikipedia)

Return To The Salish Sea: Mapmaker Stefan Freelan
As a cartographer, Stefan Freelan lives a pretty routine life, teaching computer skills such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to students at Huxley College of the Environment in Bellingham. But one day nearly a decade ago, a Canadian-born colleague came knocking at Freelan’s door. Bert Webber, a professor of Geography and Environmental Social Sciences at the time, was trying to spread the word about a newly-named body of water. He asked Freelan to help him by making a map of the Salish Sea. “And specifically, he wanted a map that did not have a line right through the middle of his bioregion, i.e., the international border,” Freelan said. Bellamy Pailthorp and Madolyn Laurine report.  (KNKX)

Federal money targets water pollution from vessel sewage
Federal grants totaling $2.5 million has been awarded to prevent sewage pollution in Washington state waters. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants will be used to add more locations where recreational boaters and other vessels can pump out their vessel sewage. Washington State Parks, working with the University of Washington's Washington Sea Grant, plans to install new septic pump-out facilities, as well as educate boats and marina owners about clean water and proper sewage disposal. (Associated Press)

Healthy forage fish habitat imperative to salmon recovery
The Suquamish Tribe and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are updating the current state of forage fish spawning habitat in East Kitsap County. Healthy forage fish populations are essential for salmon recovery because salmon rely on them as a high energy food source…. Since 2016, the tribe, the state and Puget Sound Corps (PSC) have been collecting beach samples from more than 200 sampling points each month including East Kitsap beaches from Hansville to Yukon Harbor, and Blake Island. The state and PSC crew members then take the samples to Olympia to be processed for eggs, if present, and identify the species and development stages. The sampling effort, which is expected to last at least one calendar year, will help identify the beach locations and times of the year when surf smelt spawn. (NW Treaty Tribes)

Researchers to explore Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary
A leading research team will explore the Quinault Canyon and other features of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary from Friday through Sept. 4. Anyone with an internet connection can follow the action as it unfolds at www.NautilusLive.org. Capt. Robert Ballard, who is best known for discovering the RMS Titanic in 1985, and his “Corps of Exploration” will lead the 2½ week study aboard the exploration vessel (EV) Nautilus. Rob Ollikainen reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

B.C. government announces ban on grizzly bear trophy hunt
The NDP government made good on a high-profile election promise Monday by announcing a B.C.-wide ban on the trophy hunting of grizzly bears, while allowing hunting to continue for meat. Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Doug Donaldson told a news conference that grizzly trophy hunting is “not a socially acceptable practice in 2017” and encouraged wilderness operators to look instead to the economics of bear viewing. Effective Nov. 30, 2017, the province pledges to “end grizzly bear trophy hunting throughout the province and stop all hunting of grizzlies in the Great Bear Rainforest,” Donaldson said. The timing of the ban allows hunts already scheduled for this fall to continue. Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Washington state maritime labor headed for a retirement cliff
Water-transportation workers face an impending mass retirement of almost a third of the workforce. A lot of the jobs pay well, so why aren't young workers flocking to them? Scott Greenstone reports. (Seattle Times)

The remaining $10 national parks passes aren’t easy to find. But this place has ’em.
Are you 62 or older and enjoy getting outdoors? The Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge still has a stash of $10 lifetime passes that can be used at national parks and federally operated recreation sites. Why is that a big deal? Beginning Aug. 28, the price for the lifetime passes will jump to $80. Bargain-hunting recreationalists have been flocking to parks this summer to sign up for the $10 deal. Lisa Pemberton reports. (Olympian)

Trump Administration Takes Key Step To Rolling Back Auto Fuel Standards
The Trump administration has begun the process of rolling back tough fuel standards for America’s car and light truck fleet. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department have opened the public comment period on the rewriting of standards for greenhouse gas emissions for cars and light trucks for model years 2022-2025…. Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules were first put into place after the OPEC oil crisis in the 1970s. During the Obama administration, the CAFE rules were toughened in the wake of the financial crisis and the car company bankruptcies. The new standards called for an increased reliance on electric vehicles. Low gas prices and sluggish sales of alternative fuel vehicles have made meeting those standards tough, especially for those companies more reliant on larger vehicles. Earlier this year, the EPA announced it would reconsider a decision late in the Obama administration to make the rules permanent. Sonari Glinton reports. (NPR)

How a Conservative TV Giant Is Ridding Itself of Regulation
The day before President Trump’s inauguration, the top executive of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation’s largest owner of television stations, invited an important guest to the headquarters of the company’s Washington-area ABC affiliate…. The invitation from David D. Smith, the chairman of Sinclair, went to Ajit V. Pai, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission who was about to be named the broadcast industry’s chief regulator. Mr. Smith wanted Mr. Pai to ease up on efforts under President Barack Obama to crack down on media consolidation, which were threatening Sinclair’s ambitions to grow even bigger…. Within days of their meeting, Mr. Pai was named chairman of the F.C.C. And during his first 10 days on the job, he relaxed a restriction on television stations’ sharing of advertising revenue and other resources — the exact topic that Mr. Pai discussed with Mr. Smith and one of his business partners, according to records examined by The New York Times. Cecilia Kang, Eric Lipton and Syndey Ember report. (NY times)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  220 AM PDT Tue Aug 15 2017  
TODAY  W wind to 10 kt becoming NW in the afternoon. Wind waves  1 ft or less. W swell 4 ft at 9 seconds.
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt easing to 5 to 15 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 4 ft at 10 seconds  building to 6 ft at 10 seconds after midnight.

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