10/13 Earth's Fate, farm fish $, vessel noise, dam rulings, oil spill woes, AK oysters, GBH, buffleheads

The Blue Marble [NASA, 1972]

The Fate of Earth
This week the New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert delivered the second annual Jonathan Schell Memorial Lecture on the Fate of the Earth, an event established by the Nation Institute in honor of the late Jonathan Schell, a longtime New Yorker staff writer, and named for “The Fate of the Earth,” a series of articles that Schell wrote for the magazine in 1982 and later published as a book. In these edited remarks, Kolbert speaks about "Humanity’s survival on this planet seems more uncertain than ever. But what happens when we look at ourselves through other creatures’ eyes?" (The New Yorker)

Fish-farming company offered money for Lummi Nation’s silence about net pens, letters show
Cooke Aquaculture offered to pay a premium price for Atlantic salmon caught by the Lummi Nation after a major spill from the company’s Cypress Island fish farm if the tribe would not advocate getting rid of net pen aquaculture. The tribe tartly rejected the offer. “Your demand to keep quiet for a few extra dollars is insulting,” Timothy Ballew II, chairman of the Lummi Indian Business Council, responded in a Sept. 14 letter. Nell Halse, vice president for communications for Cooke, said Wednesday the offer “was not an attempt to muzzle or insult the Lummi Nation, but rather an effort to negotiate toward common ground and respect the interests and concerns of both parties at the table …” Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Action needed now to restrict vessels in critical killer whale habitat, scientists warn
Government action is needed now, on an emergency basis, to restrict vessels within the critical habitat of endangered southern resident killer whales, marine scientists warned Thursday in Vancouver. “There are some short-term things that can be done — they’re practical, well-supported and cautionary,” Vancouver Aquarium whale researcher Lance Barrett-Lennard told a federally sponsored symposium on the killer whales. “We’d better stop talking about them and start doing them.” John Ford, an emeritus federal scientist who now teaches at the University of B.C., agreed that sport fishing and whale-watching boats can physically interfere with the whales’ ability to hunt, including their key summer prey, chinook salmon. Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Salmon-Friendly Court Rulings On Columbia, Snake Dams Could Be Oveturned By Congress
A bill sponsored by several U.S. House members from the Northwest aims to overturn two recent court decisions on Columbia and Snake river dams. Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon rejected the federal plan for managing dams to protect salmon in the Columbia River Basin. He then ordered federal agencies to spill more water through the dams to help fish and to consider removing Snake River dams. A new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would allow Congress to overrule those decisions. House Bill 3144 reinstates the rejected plan and cancels court orders for spilling water and analyzing dam removal. Cassandra Profita reports. (OPB/EarthFix)

'We're the ones that have to live here': Heiltsuk still feel impact of fuel spill
A year after a sinking tug spilled thousands of litres of fuel into the waters off Bella Bella, B.C., members of the Heiltsuk First Nation say their valuable clam beds are still contaminated. The Kirby Corporation's Nathan E. Stewart spilled an estimated 110,000 litres of diesel and another 2,000 litres of lubricants after it ran aground in the Seaforth Channel on Oct. 13, 2016. The spill sent contaminants into Gale Pass, a significant Heiltsuk harvesting site for manila clam and other shellfish. The clam beds earn up to $150,000 in income every year for the community. Bethany Lindsay reports. (CBC)

Alaska’s Oyster Farmers Are Filling an Acidification-Driven Void
On a float house in Ketchikan’s George Inlet, dozens of cylindrical tanks teem with oyster larvae that range from tiny specks to small pebbles. These larvae number around 15 million, and once they’re done growing in the cold Alaskan waters, they’ll be sent to market across the state. As the Pacific Ocean acidifies—a consequence of carbon emissions—oyster farms off California, Washington State, and British Columbia have struggled to get larvae to grow into seed, the stage when young oysters’ shells have formed. Though scientists are not quite sure why, the water off Southeast Alaska hasn’t seen the same deleterious effects. Now, entrepreneurs and investors are eyeing the state, looking to turn a profit off the short-lived gains of climate change. Gloria Dickie reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Olympia neighbors band together to save great blue herons
Booming development in the Pacific Northwest is pricing out a lot of residents. But one Olympia neighborhood has plans to protect some of its longtime inhabitants: a colony of great blue herons. Residents near West Bay Woods wanted to save a heron nest three years ago, so they formed a nonprofit. Daniel Einstein is president of the Olympia Coalition for Ecosystem Preservation, which raised more than a million dollars to keep 10 acres from being developed. Casey Martin reports. (KUOW)

Saanich Peninsula Bufflehead Festival gets bigger for 2017
What started out as a single day’s event to welcome the punctual Bufflehead duck back to the Saanich Peninsula during its annual migration, has become a three-day affair. The involvement of Nature Canada and the Robert Bateman Centre and others in the event created by the Friends of Shoal Harbour Bird Sanctuary, is raising the profile of the small sea duck. Research done locally into the migratory habits of the Bufflehead, show that on the 298th day of every year — or October 15 — the duck returns to Shoal Harbour in Sidney and North Saanich. The event starts Oct. 13 with a public reception at the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea in Sidney from 7 to 9 p.m. Steven Heywood reports. (Victoria News)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  300 AM PDT Fri Oct 13 2017  
TODAY  NW wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  6 ft at 9 seconds. A slight chance of showers.
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming SW after midnight. Wind waves  2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 9 seconds.
SAT  SE wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5 ft at  9 seconds. A slight chance of rain in the morning then a chance of  rain in the afternoon.
SAT NIGHT  E wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5  ft at 9 seconds.
SUN  SE wind to 10 kt in the morning becoming light. Wind waves 1  ft or less. W swell 5 ft at 10 seconds.

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