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| Purple ribbon worm [Mary Jo Adams] |
Paranemertes is a ribbon worm that grows to about 5 inches long. It is dark purplish brown with a cream colored underside. Watch for this predator in rocky areas and also areas of muddy sand. Don't let the fragile appearance of this species fool you. Paranemertes is a voracious predator known to attack, kill, and consume polychaete worms larger than itself. Mary Jo Adams writes. (Sound Water Stewards)
Conservation groups sue to restrict whale-watching near southern resident orcas
Conservation groups sued the Trump administration Monday for ignoring a legal petition to create a no-go zone for boats in the prime fishing areas of endangered southern resident orcas. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington by the Center for Biological Diversity and Orca Relief Citizens Alliance (ORCA). The suit comes after three more orcas were presumed dead this summer, dropping their population to 73. The proposal calls for a rule to exclude vessels from the orcas’ prime feeding areas — a designated “whale protection zone” — from April-September each year to protect the orcas from noise and disturbance. A “no wake” speed limit would apply to any vessels exempted from the exclusion, such as government vessels. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)
Judge Strikes Down San Juan Islands Ballot Measure On Orca Watching Distance Rules
Whale watch tour companies have knocked a proposed orca protection initiative off the November ballot in San Juan County, Washington. The ballot measure would have asked voters to greatly increase the stand-off distance between boats and endangered orcas... The ballot measure sought to create a 650-yard buffer zone around endangered resident orcas when they are present in San Juan County waters in order to reduce vessel disturbance to the animals. That distance rule would have roughly doubled the recently expanded no-go zone set by the Washington Legislature. Earlier this year, state lawmakers voted to increase the viewing distance from 200 yards to 300 yards. In addition, boats are now forbidden from following closer than 400 yards behind a pod of endangered orcas. On Thursday, a judge in neighboring Skagit County granted a request from four whale watching companies to strike down the proposed initiative. The case was heard in Skagit County because San Juan County was named as a defendant. Tom Banse reports. (NW News Network)
Genetic study of sockeye salmon in B.C. river suggests 75% decline since 1913
A new study that suggests sockeye returns have dropped by three-quarters in the Skeena River over the last century should serve as a "wake-up call" for B.C., the lead researcher says. The paper, published in the journal Conservation Letters, used genetic tools to trace the historical trends in sockeye populations in the country's second largest watershed for salmon. It pushes estimates of sockeye abundance all the way back to 1913 — previously used data only began in the 1960s — suggesting a much more dramatic decline. The research indicates annual sockeye returns to the Skeena have dropped from about 1.8 million to 469,000 in the last 100 years, an overall decline of about 74 per cent. Bethany Lindsay reports. (CBC)
'Hot Water Reports' use government's own data to highlight unsafe conditions for fish
When salmon and steelhead don't get the cold water they need, it costs them more energy to survive. Their reproductive success can be diminished and they become more vulnerable to disease. “And in the worst case, when water temperatures get too high, it can lead to death,” says Joseph Bogaard, executive director of the Seattle-based nonprofit Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. That’s what happened in the hot summer of 2015, when temperatures all over the Northwest spiked and about 250,000 adult sockeye died in the Columbia River Basin. Many scientists refer to that year as a dress rehearsal for climate change. Bogaard says that's why they started highlighting the issue with their weekly "Hot Water Reports," which track the temperatures in all eight reservoirs of the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers, using the federal government's own data on the dams in that system. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX) See also: How Much Hotter Are The Oceans? The Answer Begins With A Bucket Rebecca Hersher reports. (NPR)
Environment minister met by protesters as she announces conservation funding
Canada's minister of environment and climate change was in Oak Bay on Monday to announce federal funding for 49 conservation projects across the country, including three on Vancouver Island. The funding is part of a $4.3-million investment by the Liberal government over the next three years to support community work to protect endangered and at risk species... McKenna’s announcement was punctuated with shouts from protesters representing Extinction Rebellion, an international environmental activist group started in the United Kingdom that has held protests around the world to call attention to the climate crisis. Roxanne Egan-Elliott reports. (Times Colonist)
'The administration is doing real damage': Trump proposal could threaten Washington species
Scientists, conservationists and state regulators warn that changes to the Endangered Species Act could make species and habitat recovery more difficult. Hannah Weinberger reports. (Crosscut)
'It's like an apocalypse': Mosquitoes ruining quality of life for some Vancouver Islanders
Adria Cowan says she and her husband moved into their dream house near Miracle Beach on Vancouver Island a year ago. But the dream has since become a nightmare. Cowan says the area's summer mosquito problem has reached the point where she and her two children can hardly step outside... The first reports of an over-abundance of mosquitoes in the Comox Valley occurred in 2015. Two years later, a report conducted by the company Current Environmental found the Black Creek salt marsh channel near Miracle Beach was prime habitat for breeding mosquitoes. The company recommended that a pest management plan be created if complaints continued. Now, residents say the swarm has moved to inland grassy areas. Adam van der Zwan reports. (CBC)
NOAA: 'The Reefs Weren't Damaged, They Were Just Gone'
In October, Hurricane Walaka literally wiped East Island off the map, and with it the primary nesting grounds of thousands of threatened green sea turtles in French Frigate Shoals. But until now it wasn’t clear what happened to the surrounding reefs and sea life in this remote stretch of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, about 550 miles from Honolulu. Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and their partner scientists returned this week from a 22-day expedition in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Divers discovered devastating damage to the coral at French Frigate Shoals, an atoll featuring a crescent-shaped reef. Photos show rubble not recognizable as the former coral reef, one of the most significant reef systems in the nearly 600,000-square-mile monument, NOAA officials revealed Thursday. Nathan Eagle reports. (Civil Beat)
Residents tell Jefferson commissioners to stop Pope’s herbicide spraying
About a dozen Jefferson County residents spoke out at the Jefferson commissioners meeting Monday against the aerial spraying of herbicides containing glyphosate by Pope Resources. Those who spoke at public comment were a mix of members of the Jefferson County Environmental Coalition, the Kitsap County Environmental Coalition and concerned residents, but all of those who spoke on the topic were opposed to Pope Resources conducting aerial spraying within Jefferson County... Members of the community have been speaking out against Pope’s chemical spraying at the weekly county commissioners meetings since the first meeting this month on Aug. 5. Zach Jablonski reports. (Peninsula Daily News) See also: Protesters push back on aerial spraying in Jefferson County About two dozen people gathered along state Highway 20 on Monday, protesting the aerial spraying of glyphosate, a chemical used in herbicide. Several of the activists dressed in costumes including a hazmat suit and raised signs to passing cars just south of Anderson Lake Road as they anticipated a helicopter Pope Resources confirmed was planned for the day to be used in spraying. Brian McLean reports. (Peninsula Daily News)
Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca- 249 AM PDT Tue Aug 20 2019
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING
TODAY Light wind becoming NW 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 2 ft or less . W swell 3 ft at 13 seconds.
TONIGHT NW wind 5 to 15 kt becoming E 15 to 25 kt after midnight. Wind waves 2 ft or less building to 2 to 4 ft after midnight. W swell 3 ft at 14 seconds. A slight chance of rain in the evening then rain after midnight.
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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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