10/18 Cup&Saucer, Camano culverts, warm water, low water, 'son of blob,' harbors bill, Octo Eleanor, World Heritage, green crabs, quake warning

Cup and saucer [Joel White]

Cup and Saucer Constantinea simplex
Cup and saucer seaweed is a whimsically-shaped perennial red algae, with thick blades that somewhat resemble cups and saucers or inside-out umbrellas, depending on the time of year.... The species grows on rocks in the low intertidal and shallow subtidal areas along exposed coastlines. Its range extends form the Kamchatka Peninsula, Commander Islands and Aleutian Islands east to northern Alaska and south to southern California. (Central Coast Biodiversity)

Guest blog: Waiting for the Tide to Turn …
Guest blogger Pete Haase writes: "It has been a pretty rough spring and summer for most of us volunteer folks who spend some of our time working to help protect and restore the Salish Sea - one bad news report after another...." (read more)

New Camano Island culverts open 1.6 miles of fish habitat
After more than 15 years of planning, Barbara Brock finally saw the installation of a set of fish-friendly culverts along Kristoferson Creek on the east side of Camano Island. The project opened up about 1.6 miles of critical habitat for several species of salmon.... Kristoferson Creek, a small coastal stream, begins at Kristoferson Lake and flows under East Camano Drive eventually reaching Triangle Cove, a pocket estuary. These habitats provide refugee for young salmon where they spend months growing before heading out to the ocean.  Lizz Giordano reports. (Everett Herald)


Federal judge orders EPA to protect salmon from warm temps in Columbia River basin
A federal judge has ordered protection for salmon in the Columbia River basin from warm water temperatures that have been lethal to salmon and steelhead as the climate changes. The U.S. District Court for the Western District at Seattle in a 16-page ruling Wednesday ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead from dangerously warm water temperatures in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Climate change has exacerbated a long standing problem with water temperature in reservoirs behind hydropower dams on the rivers, increasing the number days in which temperatures exceed what can be tolerated by salmon and steelhead, which are cold-water species. In 2015, 250,000 adult sockeye salmon died when the Columbia and Snake rivers became too warm. Hot water pushed survival rates for critically endangered Snake River sockeye to only 4 percent in 2015. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

'Unprecedented low water levels' in northern, central B.C. raise fears for future of wildlife
October's long dry spell in the northwest of British Columbia may be coming to an end with rain in the forecast, but the prolonged drought — which reached a level 4 warning in some areas — is already having adverse effects on wildlife in the region. At the beginning of the week, Prince Rupert had seen only a couple of days of rain in October — which is highly unusual for the typically soggy city... The dry conditions are particularly affecting salmon in the Upper Skeena region, according to Mark Cleveland, head biologist for Gitanyow Fisheries. Clare Hennig reports. (CBC)

'Son of the blob': Unseasonably warm weather creating new anomaly off B.C. coast
The blob is back. A meteorologist says unseasonable conditions in B.C. are likely once again causing a large area of the Pacific Ocean to heat up, emulating a phenomenon from past years called the "blob." That mass of warm water was blamed for warmer weather on land, poor feeding conditions for salmon and even dead whales. Now, Armel Castellan with Environment and Climate Change Canada says it appears a warm-water patch dubbed the "son of the blob" is establishing itself off B.C.'s coast. Liam Britten reports. (CBC)


Congress Passes Key Harbors and Waterways Bill
This year's edition of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) has passed the U.S. House and Senate as part of a larger package, and now awaits the president's signature. The final version of the America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018 authorizes investments in the nation’s ports, waterways, dams, and public drinking water systems. It passed the Senate by 99-1, with Senator Mike Lee of Utah providing the lone dissenting vote.... AWIA authorizes the construction of three navigation projects at the ports of Seattle, Galveston and San Juan, Puerto Rico. It also approves modifications to previously-authorized projects in Savannah, Norfolk, and Sault St. Marie/Soo Locks. It also expedites planning for projects at the Port of Tacoma, the Port of New York and New Jersey, the port of Nome, Alaska, and ports in Houma, Baptiste Collette and Bayou LaFourche, Louisiana.... AWIA also contains a raft of licensing policy modifications for dams, which will shorten the approval timeline for dam projects and "provide regulatory incentives for investments at existing hydropower facilities," according to the American Hydropower Association. It also provides additional resources for drinking water projects - motivated in part by Flint, Michigan's lead contamination problem - and doubles the size of a state loan assistance program for water utilities. (Marine Executive)

Meet Eleanora, PT Marine Science Center’s new Giant Pacific Octopus
She’s friendly, but reserved. She likes to play, but she’s also dignified. She’s a lady, but she also likes to eat fish popsicles.  Her name is Eleanora, and she’s a Giant Pacific Octopus.... Eleanora, who is roughly 2 years old, originally came from the area around Whidbey Island. She had been living at the Friday Harbor Laboratories, where she was helping researchers study the intelligence of the Giant Pacific Octopus.  Lily Haight reports. (Port Townsend Leader)

Salish Sea misses Canada’s tentative list for World Heritage Sites
The Salish Sea, regarded as some of the most biologically diverse and important waters in the world, did not make the cut for Canada’s tentative list for World Heritage Sites. In August 2016, Canadians were invited to nominate the country’s most exceptional places to be future candidates for the UNESCO recognition. Although a petition supporting the Salish Sea application garnered more than 1,000 signatures, the Ministerial Advisory Committee tasked with reviewing the 42 applications received did not endorse it. (Sooke News Mirror)

Green crab numbers dwindle in Dungeness
Resource managers at Dungeness’ Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge are happy to find less of what they were hunting. Lorenz Sollmann, deputy project leader at the refuge, said the group caught 69 of the invasive European green crabs on the Dungeness Spit from April through Oct. 7, with all but four of those found on Graveyard Spit. That’s down from 96 last year during approximately the same time span.... In Jefferson County, a green crab was found Sept. 8 at Kala Point Lagoon during routine monthly trap sampling as part of the Crab Team’s early detection network. Intense trapping led by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife staff led to a second green crab to be trapped in Scow Bay between Indian and Marrowstone Islands. After catching 34 green crabs in a short span last season in Neah Bay, resource managers through Makah Fisheries Management and community partners captured 1,030 this year in the Wa’atch River and Tsoo-Yess River.... Along the Salish Sea, volunteers found green crab in June on Whidbey Island’s Lagoon Point, two at Westcott Bay and a molt in Fidalgo Bay on San Juan Island. Matthew Nash reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

West Coast quake warning system now operational, with limits
Automated alerts from the fledgling West Coast earthquake early warning system are ready to be used broadly by businesses, utilities, schools and other entities but not for mass public notification, officials said Wednesday.... The system being built for California, Oregon and Washington detects that an earthquake is occurring, quickly analyzes the data and sends out alerts that may give warnings of several seconds to a minute before strong shaking arrives at locations away from the epicenter. That can be enough time to automatically slow trains, stop industrial processes, start backup generators, pause a surgery or send students scrambling for protection under desks and table. (Associated Press)



Now, your tug weather--

West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  300 AM PDT Thu Oct 18 2018   

TODAY  W wind to 10 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 13 seconds. Areas of fog  in the morning. 

TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt in the evening becoming light. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 13 seconds. Areas of fog  after midnight.


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