4/29 Survive the Sound, WA budget, sea stars, bald eagle, Pebble Mine, Skagit chinook, ghost nets, crab pile, water system woes, Boat Haven stormwater, BC pipe, Seaworld data, spotted owl chicks

Time to Survive The Sound
Survive the Sound is an interactive online game where students and the general public are invited to follow their favorite fish character as it migrates through Puget Sound. The game uses real data collected as part of Long Live The Kings’s research efforts to tell the story of imperiled steelhead migrating in early May and the challenges they face. During the journey, everyone develops a deeper connection to their local environment, encouraging them to take action to protect it. Educators! Go to the classroom page. All others! Sign on and play on.

House and Senate Democrats reach agreement on raising local school levy lid and Legislature approves two-year $52.4 billion budget to beat midnight deadline
On the final night of the 105-day legislative session, the House and Senate on Sunday approved a bill to enable public schools to raise more money from local property taxes. Both chambers adopted the two-year, $52.4 billion state operating budget that boosts spending on K-12, higher education, and mental health and includes more than $800 million in new revenue. The Legislature also approved Initiative 1000 to allow the use of affirmative action policies in education, government employment and contracting. It replaces the voter-approved ban on affirmative action passed in 1998. James Drew reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

'Best day ever.' Scientist celebrates recovering sea stars
Earlier this week, a scientist in the San Juan Islands tweeted: “Best day ever." What triggered her joy? Sea stars. Hundreds of healthy, colorful sea stars. A few years ago, a mysterious disease started killing multiple species of sea stars along the West Coast at devastating rates. This was concerning to scientists because sea stars are voracious predators — they are able to control populations of other sea creatures like mussels, clams and urchins. But some sea stars in the Pacific Northwest appear to be recovering. A species known as ochre sea stars, the orange and purple ones you might have spotted at low tide, seem to be stabilizing around the San Juan Islands. Kate Walters reports. (KUOW)

Vancouver Island woman injured in bald eagle mishap
It was a party of two that crashed onto Lisa Bell's lap that left her surprised and hurt. The Vancouver Island amateur photographer says she was taking photos of two bald eagles cavorting in mid-air near Bowser B.C. on Vancouver Island Friday when the pair fell from the sky, landed on her and inadvertently scratched and punctured her body with their talons. "They connected and came down," she said. "I'm really lucky it could have been a whole lot worse." (CBC)

Businesses for Bristol Bay issue a plea from Seattle: suspend permitting on Pebble Mine
More than 200 businesses — including many in Washington state — are calling on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to suspend permitting for the controversial Pebble Mine project. The proposed mine would be located in the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery, in Bristol Bay Alaska. The group, Businesses for Bristol Bay, released a letter with the demand at a press conference in Seattle, held outside Chef Tom Douglas’ Seatown Market Diner. They were there to make a point: that interests affected by the Pebble Mine include everything from commercial and sport fishing and recreation companies to outfitters, seafood processors and restaurants. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

Skagit River chinook fishery to open Wednesday
A chinook salmon fishery is set to open Wednesday on the lower Skagit River for the first time in nearly 30 years. The state Department of Fish & Wildlife announced Monday that a spring fishery for hatchery chinook will be open through May. From May 1-31, anglers can catch and keep up to two hatchery chinook caught in the area from the Memorial Highway Bridge in Mount Vernon to Gilligan Creek southeast of Sedro-Woolley, according to a news release. State and tribal fishery co-managers recently agreed to open the fishery this year based on the number of wild and hatchery chinook forecast to return to the river. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Ghost nets still fishing in the deep waters of Puget Sound
Lost and abandoned fishing nets, which have destroyed millions of sea creatures in Puget Sound, still lurk in deeper, darker waters, where they continue to catch fish and crabs. But the quiet, unregulated killing has been quelled substantially since 2002, as divers have pulled up nearly 6,000 of these so-called “ghost nets.” The challenge for the future is to find and quickly remove newly lost nets, while going after the difficult-to-remove nets still fishing in more than 100 feet of water. Programs are moving forward on both fronts. Chris Dunagan reports. (Salish Sea Currents)

Second big pile of rotting Dungeness crabs found in northwestern B.C.
A pile of rotting, illegally-dumped crabs has been found in northwestern British Columbia and officials believe it is linked to a similar, smelly discovery in the same region earlier this month. Fisheries and Oceans Canada spokeswoman Leri Davies says a public tip led officials last week to the pile of about 200 Dungeness crabs not far from the Skeena River, west of Hazelton. Given their state of decay, Davies says investigators are confident the decomposing crustaceans are related to about 250 crabs dumped east of the village on April 2. (Canadian Press)

Non-band residents choose to leave rather than pay $50K to stay on Semiahmoo reserve
For nearly three decades, Naomi Mitchell has heated her home with firewood, hauling chopped logs from outside to her wood stove. At nearly 80-years-old, it takes a bit of effort, but she still prefers her quaint home on the Semiahmoo reserve over the alternative....But after 30 years, her time there is coming to an end — and she says it's not by choice. Mitchell is one of more than 30 non-band members living on the Semiahmoo First Nation lands — located just south of White Rock near the U.S. border — who will leave by mid-June after receiving a $50,000 bill to connect their homes to a new clean water system. Residents were confronted with a tough decision: pay up, or move out. None chose to foot the bill. Jon Hernandez reports. (CBC)

Port of Port Townsend turns down stormwater grant for Boat Haven
Port of Port Townsend commissioners have declined a $200,000 grant from the state Department of Ecology, citing expense and a lack of a need for it now. Commissioners took the action on Wednesday. The Integrated Planning Grant (IPG) — which had been applied for by the previous administration — was intended to help the port address soils contamination and stormwater quality issues in the boatyard. It also would have helped in planning for the redevelopment of the uplands at Boat Haven to allow for “intensification of use” there. Even though the IPG is a fully-funded grant, the port would have to incur some costs to use it, specifically staff and possibly consultant time. Commissioners agreed that they did not have the money in the budget. Jeannie McMacken reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

First Nations leaders at odds over potential pipeline ownership
An Indigenous group is urging other First Nations to not invest in the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, arguing it is not a sound investment. The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) has penned an open letter to some leaders who are exploring the idea of partial ownership in the project. It warns of potential financial risks tied to the proposed pipeline expansion if it gets the ultimate green light from Ottawa. Tanya Fletcher reports. (CBC)

SeaWorld publishes decades of data to help wild orcas
The endangered orcas of the Pacific Northwest live very different lives from orcas in captivity....SeaWorld, which displays orcas at its parks in California, Texas and Florida, has recently published data from thousands of routine blood tests of its orcas throughout two decades, revealing the most comprehensive picture yet of what a healthy orca looks like. The information could guide how and whether scientists intervene to help sick or stranded orcas in the wild. Gene Johnson reports. (Associated Press)

BC spotted owl breeders hope for chicks as fertile eggs ready to hatch
It takes fake eggs, sterile incubators, some trickery and years of trial and error to breed Canada’s almost extinct northern spotted owl in captivity. Researchers at British Columbia’s Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Program centre in Langley say their fingers are crossed this spring as they delicately tend to at least one fertile egg, due to hatch within days. (Canadian Press)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  250 AM PDT Mon Apr 29 2019   
TODAY  SE wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 4 ft  at 10 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind to 10 kt in the evening becoming light. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 4 ft at 11 seconds.

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