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| Green sea urchin [Wikipedia] |
The green sea urchin is one of the most widely distributed of all Echinoderms. It has a circumpolar distribution, which extends into the Arctic regions of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It commonly inhabits the rocky subtidal zone from the low-tide mark down to a depth of 1200 m, but also occurs intertidally in tide pools. The green sea urchin primarily grazes on seaweeds (kelp being its preferred food source), but will also consume a wide variety of organisms including mussels, sand dollars, barnacles, whelks, periwinkles, sponges, bryozoans, dead fish, and - when hungry enough - other sea urchins. They are eaten by: A variety of predators including crabs, sea stars, wolf eels and humans. The Japanese relish the gonads called "uni". (Race Rocks Taxonomy)
China has stopped buying crude oil from Western Canada after record purchase in 2018
Chinese demand for Canadian crude oil shipped through the Port of Vancouver has dried up in 2019. David Huntley, a professor emeritus in physics at Simon Fraser University who monitors tanker traffic at Burnaby’s Westridge terminal, said that so far this year there had been only three tankers that loaded crude oil from the terminal and none went to China. This followed a record year for China, where it bought 6.56 million barrels of crude (12 tanker loads), or almost one-third of all the crude shipped out of B.C. in 2018. According to Port of Vancouver records, China imported crude from B.C. every year between 2008 and 2018, except 2016 and 2017. Huntley, via email, told Postmedia News “my interpretation is that a significant amount of oil was sent to China near the end of 2018 when the price was very low, and it stopped the moment the Alberta Premier curtailed production and the price returned to normal.” David Carrigg reports. (Vancouver Sun)
If you like to watch: The Last Generation: Southern resident orcas in danger of extinction
KCPQ reporter Simone Del Rosario recounts in five parts the plight of the Southern Resident killer whales. (KCPQ)
Legislature won’t ban orca-watching boats in Puget Sound
Washington legislators came into their 2019 session brimming with proposals to help rescue Puget Sound’s imperiled orcas. But now they have dropped one of the most important – and controversial – ideas: A three-year moratorium on commercial whale watching. Lawmakers denied Gov. Jay Inslee’s attempt to force commercial whale-watching boats to keep extra distance from three groups of orcas that summer in the waters of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea between Washington and Canada. In doing so, they turned down a key recommendation from an overwhelming majority of a group of nearly 50 researchers, state and tribal officials and others who served on the Southern Resident Orca Task Force. Rachel Nielsen reports. (InvestigateWest)
Samish Hatchery preparing salmon for orcas
Amid pools with millions of finger-sized fish darting around, Samish Hatchery workers prepared young chinook salmon Thursday for upcoming release into Friday Creek and the Samish River. State Department of Fish & Wildlife regional hatchery program manager Steve Stout said each year the Samish Hatchery north of Burlington raises about 4.2 million chinook salmon. This year the hatchery raised an additional 1 million salmon — using the facility’s entire capacity — in an effort to boost the number of fish available over the next few years to the region’s endangered Southern Resident orca whales. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)
Frognal Estates gets another key county approval
Frognal Estates is poised for another leap forward. Snohomish County is preparing to issue a permit that would allow the 112-home subdivision to move toward construction, over the objections of neighbors and environmentalists. With the approval, the developer could clear the 22-acre property near Picnic Point Road, beyond the logging that began last year. The grading permit also opens the way for the construction of roads, utilities and retaining walls. If completed, the project would include 112 houses. Noah Haglund reports. (Everett Herald)
These shellfish beds were closed because of fecal pollution. But there’s ‘big change.’
For the first time in years, members of the Lummi Nation are able to harvest shellfish from about 800 acres in Portage Bay during the spring, starting this month. Because of improving water quality, the state Department of Health has lifted the ban on shellfish harvesting there from April 1 through June 30.... The restriction remains in place October through December, when polluted runoff washes into the bay after heavy rain and fecal coliform bacteria levels remain at unsafe levels. Lummi Nation voluntarily closed some of the acres in 2014 and the state followed starting in 2015. Kie Relyea reports. (Bellingham Herald)
'It's extremely safe:' Vancouver employs insecticide to battle invasive Japanese beetle
Vancouver's Park Board closed down a park in the city's core Sunday as the first step in a spraying program against a destructive and invasive beetle. Japanese beetles, Popillia japonica, were first discovered in B.C. in Vancouver's False Creek in 2017.... Howard Normann, the director of parks for Vancouver, says the beetle is a real threat to a variety of plants.... The Park Board is using a Japanese-beetle specific insecticide, called Acelepryn, to battle the pest. Normann says the insecticide doesn't affect bees, butterflies, animals or people, but targets the larva of Japanese beetles, which overwinter in soil. (CBC)
'Individual action matters': climate communicators need to give useful advice, researcher says
Canadians are fixated on political news out of Ottawa and rising gas prices, but their time would be better spent taking action against climate change, says an expert from the University of British Columbia. Jiaying Zhao is the Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Sustainability and an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of British Columbia. Zhao says a report released last week by Environment and Climate Change Canada is disturbing and people should be very concerned. But the way climate change is communicated could be the reason people are not as engaged with the issue.... Zhao says many people do not draw the link between climate change or temperatures rising with driving, flying and other carbon-emitting behaviours. Laura Sciarpelletti reports. (CBC) See also: Films about climate change encourage action rather than preach to the converted Laura Kane reports. (Canadian Press)
A Washington state senator praised the Cambodian government last year. Then it gave him a $500,000 lobbying contract.
A company created by state Sen. Doug Ericksen has landed a $500,000 lobbying contract from the Cambodian government he praised last year during a controversial visit as an election observer. Ericksen, R-Ferndale, registered as a foreign agent for the kingdom of Cambodia in an April 3 filing with the U.S. Justice Department, along with former state Rep. Jay Rodne, R-Snoqualmie. The registration was made under a company called PacRim Bridges LLC. State records show Ericksen and Rodne are the sole owners of the firm, created in late 2017. The contract with Cambodia was first reported Friday by POLITICO. Cambodia will pay $500,000 a year to Ericksen’s company in monthly installments of $41,660, according to their contract. In exchange, the company will meet with state and federal officials “to promote improved relations between the USA and the Kingdom of Cambodia and legislation that promotes improved relations.” They’ll also arrange visits between the U.S. and Cambodia for officials of each government. Jim Brunner and Joseph O'Sullivan report. (Seattle Times)
Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca- 249 AM PDT Mon Apr 8 2019
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING
TODAY E wind 5 to 15 kt becoming SE to 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 10 ft at 13 seconds. Rain likely.
TONIGHT NW wind 10 to 20 kt becoming W 15 to 20 kt after midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 10 ft at 13 seconds subsiding to 8 ft at 13 seconds after midnight. A chance of showers in the evening then a slight chance of showers after midnight.
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