3/27 Camellia, island virus, media layoffs, plastic bags, Trump's green rollbacks, sustainable seafood, ocean changes, fish school, GBR bleaching, Takaya

Camellia

Symbolism of the camellia
The camellia is native to China where it has a rich national history, particularly in the southwest region. Here, camellia flowers grow wild and during the early spring entire fields will be covered in colorful camellias. Camellias are also a highly respected flower in Japan, and is often referred to as the Japanese rose. In China, the camellia represents the union between two lovers. The delicately layered petals represent the woman, and the calyx (the green leafy part of the stem that holds the petals together) represents the man who protects her. The two components are joined together, even after death. Typically when the petals of a flower fall off, the calyx will stay intact. With camellias however, the calyx and petals fall away together, which is why the camellia also represents eternal love or long-lasting devotion. (FTD)


*EDITOR'S NOTE: Access updates on the COVID-19 virus at national and regional print publications like the CBC, the Seattle Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.


Virus versus visitors: San Juan Islanders weigh health risks of tourism amid pandemic
On a typical March day, Jim Passer might serve up to 250 customers at his Orcas Island restaurant, The Lower Tavern. Yet, since Washington state started restricting gatherings to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, Passer is lucky to serve 100 customers to-go orders a day. “Every single hour of every day we talk about whether or not we’re doing the right thing,” said Passer about remaining open. “It’s a serious situation we’re in, so the closure and everything we’re doing are certainly necessary.” Hayley Day reports. (Salish Current)

As advertising dries up amid coronavirus shutdown, Washington news outlets lay off staff
Coronavirus has infected Washington’s media ecosystem. The statewide shutdown of most businesses and a halt to events, ordered to slow the virus’s spread, have dried up advertising revenues at news outlets across the state. Layoffs and furloughs have followed, putting additional pressure on the remaining reporters and editors, who are already working overtime — and usually working from home — to feed the public’s need for news about the virus. Katherine Khashimova Long reports. (Seattle Times)

In Coronavirus, Industry Sees Chance to Undo Plastic Bag Bans
They are “petri dishes for bacteria and carriers of harmful pathogens,” read one warning from a plastics industry group. They are “virus-laden.” The group’s target? The reusable shopping bags that countless of Americans increasingly use instead of disposable plastic bags. The plastic bag industry, battered by a wave of bans nationwide, is using the coronavirus crisis to try to block laws prohibiting single-use plastic. Hiroko Tabuchi reports. (NY Times) See: Bag bans lifted across Kitsap as grocery stores work to keep employees healthy  Jessie Darland reports. (Kitsap Sun)

Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Find Opposition Within: Staff Scientists
President Trump has made rolling back environmental regulations a centerpiece of his administration, moving to erase Obama-era efforts ranging from landmark fuel efficiency standards and coal industry controls to more routine rules on paint solvents and industrial soot. But all along, scientists and lawyers inside the federal government have embedded statistics and data in regulatory documents that make the rules vulnerable to legal challenges. These facts, often in the technical supporting documents, may hand ammunition to environmental lawyers working to block the president’s policies. Coral Davenport reports. (NY Times)

If you like to watch: Sustaining Seafood and Communities of the Salish Sea
Tele Aadsen, of Nerka Sea-Frozen Salmon, and Jake Hacker, of Aslan Brewing Co. talk about fresh, locally-sourced salmon and seafood. (Northwest Straits Foundation)

Understanding Ocean Changes and Climate Just Got Harder
A new study shows that two important indicators for understanding and predicting the effects of climate variability on eastern North Pacific marine ecosystems are less reliable than they were historically. This finding has important implications for fisheries and ecosystem management from Alaska to California. Until recently, oceanographers and fishery biologists summarized and understood complex and
long-term relationships between regional fish stock productivity and ocean climate patterns using the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index (PDO) and the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation. (Alaska Fisheries Science Center)

If you like to watch: Why Do Fish School?
A swirling mass of fish swims past, as if a single organism was moving in unison. Who gets to be in the middle? How do they not bump into each other? And why are they schooling in the first place? (Hakai Institute)

Great Barrier Reef suffers third mass bleaching in five years
Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered another mass bleaching event - the third in just five years. Warmer sea temperatures - particularly in February - are feared to have caused huge coral loss across the world's largest reef system. (BBC)

Takaya, world-famous lone wolf, shot and killed on Vancouver Island
A wolf that lived alone for years on a tiny island near Victoria was shot and killed by a hunter this week. The B.C. Conservation Officer Service said in a statement that the male wolf, named Takaya, was killed on Tuesday near Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island, approximately 50 kilometres away from where it was released in late January. Adam van der Zwan reports. (CBC)



Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  255 AM PDT Fri Mar 27 2020   
TODAY  SE wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. SW swell  4 ft at 17 seconds. Rain. 
TONIGHT  SE wind 5 to 15 kt becoming S 10 to 20 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. SW swell 4 ft at 16 seconds. A  chance of rain in the evening then rain likely after midnight. 
SAT  S wind 10 to 20 kt becoming SW 5 to 15 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. SW swell 4 ft at 14 seconds. A  chance of rain in the morning then rain in the afternoon. 
SAT NIGHT  SW wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. SW  swell 4 ft at 11 seconds. 
SUN  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 4 ft  at 7 seconds.




--
"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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter. 

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told