5/10 Eelpout, steelhead, underwater noise, green crab, Sequim marina, Ross Lake, I-5, Chambers Cr. resort, sea cucumber, cleaner Vancouver

Blackbelly eelpout [Janna Nichols]

Blackbelly eelpout Lycodopsis pacifica
Found in Eastern Pacific Gulf of Alaska to northern Baja California, Mexico, on silty or sandy bottoms. Moves into shallow water at night to feed on marine worms, crustaceans, small bivalves, and brittle stars. Few live over 5 years. If used live as bait, it attracts large rockfishes, greenlings or codfishes. Flesh considered good but not esteemed. (Discover Life)

Tracking endangered Steelhead producing answers and more questions about their long-term survival
With giant buckets of cold Nisqually River water and some smaller bins to hold fish, Megan Moore is assembling a field surgical ward outside of the small town of Yelm.,,, But Moore is no surgeon. She’s a research biologist with NOAA’s Fisheries Office in Seattle. This set up is a spring ritual along the fast moving and pristine river for more than a decade now. And her patients: endangered steelhead. Steelhead and salmon are not only big business in Washington State, many species are also in big trouble. But, each year scientists are starting to uncover clues to turning that trend around. Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars to our state economy hang in the balance. Tim Joyce reports. (KCPQ)

Underwater microphones show how noisy it is for orcas in Puget Sound
Southern Resident killer whales use clicks and sound to find their prey, the majority of which are Chinook salmon. The signal bounces of a fish's swim bladder like a radar, which helps the orcas know exactly where their prey is located. Sometimes those fish are hundreds of meters away.  The hunt gets even more challenging as Chinook salmon stocks continue to decline. Now, add in all the noisy vessels in between the whales and the few Chinook salmon that remain. Scott Viers is the coordinator of OrcaSound's hydrophone network. https://www.orcasound.net/ The underwater acoustic monitoring system records in real time the underwater noise around Puget Sound. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

Can volunteer trappers halt the green crab invasion in Puget Sound?
The war against the invasive European green crab continues in Puget Sound, as this year’s Legislature offers increased financial support, and new trapping sites have been added in Samish and Port Gamble bays. In other parts of the country where green crabs have become established, the invaders have destroyed native shoreline habitat, diminished native species and cost shellfish growers millions of dollars in damages. See Environmental Protection Agency report (PDF 1.3 mb). https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-12/documents/ee-0513-01.pdf In Puget Sound, it’s hard to know whether the crabs are being trapped and removed rapidly enough to defeat the invasion, but so far humans seem to be holding their own, according to Emily Grason, who manages the Crab Team volunteer trapping effort for Washington Sea Grant. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways) See also: ‘Raving mad crabs’ spotted at Esquimalt Lagoon  DFO laying traps for invasive European green crabs. Swikar Oli reports. (Victoria News)

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe eyes marina on Sequim Bay
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is exploring the purchase of John Wayne Marina from the Port of Port Angeles — if other options do not work out — Tribal Chairman Ron Allen said Thursday. The tribe now is working with the city of Sequim on a joint proposal to run the public, 300-slip facility under city ownership. Under the joint city-tribe proposal, the port would transfer the marina to the city “at no or very low cost,” according to an April 23, 2018, City Council resolution, and the tribe would manage it. Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Low Ross Lake levels to impact summer recreation
As abnormally dry conditions continue, Skagit River water reserves are now forecast to reach uncharacteristic lows this summer. Seattle City Light, which operates three hydroelectric dams on the upper Skagit River, recently announced it anticipates its largest reservoir, Ross Lake, will see water levels 25 feet lower than normal this summer. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service, which compiles state water supply outlook reports, water levels in the Skagit River may dip to about 77 percent of normal over the summer. Seattle City Light doesn’t anticipate impacts to the water supply. However, recreation around the man-made lake tucked in the North Cascades will be impacted, according to the utility and North Cascades National Park Service Complex. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

This Week Then: I-5 Turns 50
Fifty years ago this week, on May 14, 1969, the final segment of Interstate 5 in Washington opened for traffic between Marysville and Everett, allowing motorists to travel without interruption from the Canadian border to the California state line. The new freeway also helped boost the development of Washington cities along its route, including Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Arlington, Marysville, Everett, Lynnwood, Seattle, Federal Way, Tacoma, Olympia, Centralia, Chehalis, Longview, and Vancouver. Alan Stein writes. (HistoryLink.org/Seattle Magazine)

Chambers Creek resort lease approved by Pierce County Council
It was never going to be an easy vote. Five and a half hours after convening, the Pierce County Council voted 6-1 in favor of the county executive entering into a long-term ground lease with Chambers Bay Resort, LLC, for the development of a hotel and resort on a portion of Chambers Creek Properties. Council member Connie Ladenburg was the lone “no” vote. Before the vote, she offered a lengthy challenge to the measure, pointing to the council’s lack of information, particularly from the project’s financial standpoint, to make an adequate decision. She also offered survey results that showed an overwhelming negative response to the idea of people living in golf villas in the park. Debbie Cockrell reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Sea Cucumbers Keep Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’
It’s an odd line to hear, that the sea cucumbers “wouldn’t settle down.” But that curious observation, made in the lab of Memorial University of Newfoundland professor and biologist Annie Mercier, set the stage for the discovery of a wholly unexpected mode of locomotion in orange-footed sea cucumbers. These creatures, which look something like 20-centimeter-long footballs with a cluster of branch-like tentacles at one end, were long thought to live sedentary lives. However, Mercier’s new laboratory research shows that, when under duress, the orange-footed sea cucumber will release its grip from the ocean floor, pump itself full of water, and roll away. To make its great escape, the invertebrate absorbs water through both its mouth and anus. Doug Johnson reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Vancouver woman wants to clean up how people wash their cars 
Lydia Lee is petitioning the City of Vancouver to let people know how to legally wash cars. Rafferty Baker reports. (CBC) And: What to do about doggy doo-doo? Vancouver councillor has an idea  Motion from Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung aims to make disposing dog waste easier for owners, greener for city. Andrea Ross reports. (CBC)


Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  304 AM PDT Fri May 10 2019   
TODAY  E wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 4 ft  at 11 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  3 ft at 10 seconds. 
SAT  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming NW 15 to 25 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less building to 2 to 4 ft in the  afternoon. W swell 3 ft at 9 seconds. 
SAT NIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5 ft at 8 seconds. 
SUN  Light wind becoming W 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves less than 1 to 2 ft. W swell 5 ft at 9 seconds.

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