3/28 Pink salmon, 'climate emergency,' BC pipe, Roundup damages, Sound Defense

Pink salmon [USFWS]

Pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
This species is found in streams and rivers from California north to the Mackenzie River, with their principal spawning areas between Puget Sound, Washington, and Bristol Bay, Alaska. They migrate to their home stream from July to October, and while some go a considerable distance upstream, the majority spawn in waters close to the sea. During the spawning period, both sexes change from their blue and silver colouring to a pale grey. A peculiarity of this species is its fixed, two year lifespan. Immediately after they emerge from the gravel in the spring, the young pink fry enter the ocean and after a few days to several months in the estuary and nearshore zone, they move out into the open ocean in large schools. There, pink salmon feed on the small and nearly invisible animals called zooplankton, especially krill, which gives their flesh the bright pink colour for which they are named. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

Richmond joins hundreds of cities declaring a ‘climate emergency’
The City of Richmond has joined Vancouver in a global movement of cities declaring a climate emergency. While the declaration is symbolic, Richmond councillors also asked staff to create aggressive new targets for greenhouse gas emission limits and a comprehensive plan to achieve them.... Richmond has successfully reduced community-wide GHG emissions by an estimated 12 per cent between 2007 and 2015, led by a steep reduction in residential natural gas consumption, according to a staff report. Richmond has already implemented a Community Energy and Emissions Plan with “beyond code” energy efficiency standards for new buildings. Randy Shore reports. (Vancouver Sun)

First Nations chiefs vying for stake in Trans Mountain pipeline get face-to-face with Bill Morneau
An Alberta Indigenous group is optimistic about its chances of one day owning the Trans Mountain oil pipeline after a private meeting with the federal finance minister on Wednesday. The federal government bought the existing pipeline and related infrastructure for $4.5 billion last summer. Constructing the expansion pipeline could cost more than $7 billion. A few months ago, two different Indigenous groups were pushing for a stake in the pipeline. However, CBC News has learned that number has now grown to at least five. Bill Morneau met with First Nation chiefs from only one group — Iron Coalition — which has incorporated and has support from different First Nations and Métis throughout the province. Kyle Bakx and Geneviève Normand report. (CBC)

Monsanto Ordered to Pay $80 Million in Roundup Cancer Case 
A federal jury on Wednesday ordered Monsanto to pay more than $80 million in damages to a California man whose cancer it determined was partly caused by his use of the popular weedkiller Roundup. The six-member jury found that Monsanto should be held liable for the man’s illness because it failed to include a label on its product warning of the weedkiller’s risk of causing cancer. The verdict, delivered in United States District Court in San Francisco, is a milestone in the continuing public debate over the health effects of Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weedkiller. Monsanto is currently defending itself against thousands of similar claims.... Wednesday’s verdict ended the second of two phases in the trial. Last week, the jury issued an initial verdict saying that the weedkiller was a “substantial factor” in causing Mr. Hardeman’s cancer. Julia Jacobs reports. (NY Times)

Sound Defense Alliance organizes against Growlers
The one point of consensus at the Sound Defense Alliance’s March 21 community meeting was, in the words of Alliance member and Port Townsend resident Larry Morrell, “We’re all anxious to do something.” That gathering, at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend ,was one of five conducted by the Alliance on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Puget Sound region, in response to the U.S. Navy’s decisions to add 36 EA-18G “Growler” jets at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, and to increase their landing practice at Naval Outlying Field Coupeville. Kirk Boxleitner reports. (Port Townsend Leader)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  157 AM PDT Thu Mar 28 2019   
TODAY  E wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 5 ft  at 9 seconds. A slight chance of showers. 
TONIGHT  E wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  6 ft at 8 seconds.



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