3/6 Dungeness crabs, Whatcom Museum, Swinomish win, rail disaster probes, Anacortes refinery sale, feeding trees

Dungeness crabs [Alaska Fish & Game]

West Coast Dungeness Crab Stable or Increasing Even With Intensive Harvest, Research Shows
The West Coast Dungeness crab fishery doesn’t just support the most valuable annual harvest of seafood on the West Coast. It’s a fishery that just keeps on giving. Fishermen from California to Washington caught almost all the available legal-size male Dungeness crab each year in the last few decades. However, the crab population has either remained stable or continued to increase, according to the first thorough population estimate of the West Coast Dungeness stocks. (NOAA Fisheries)


Whatcom Museum opens heritage exhibits to indigenous people; part of 'bigger conversation'
New exhibits and a new perspective on access at the Whatcom Museum of History and Art have become threads in a national conversation about the relationship between museums and indigenous people. For the duration of “Tribal Canoe Journeys,” which features photographs of the 2019 Paddle to Lummi, the museum will waive entrance fees for indigenous people. The exhibit features photographs from the tribal nonprofit Children of the Setting Sun Productions. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Salish Current)

Appeals court sides with Swinomish in BNSF suit
A federal appeals court sided Wednesday with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in its lawsuit against BNSF Railway. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that upheld the tribe's right to sue to enforce an agreement on train traffic on tribal land. With this issue resolved, the case is being sent back to federal district court, the ruling states. Brandon Stone reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Police not probing recent rail disasters, crude oil derailments, deaths for possible negligence
Public police forces are choosing not to investigate major accidents at CN and Canadian Pacific Railway, including recent crude oil train crashes and deadly derailments, a CBC News investigation into Canada's rail system has found. Instead, the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and other forces routinely defer to little-known federal railway police run by CP and CN, leaving the companies to investigate themselves with no outside police looking into potential criminal negligence. Dave Seglins and Joseph Loiero report. (CBC)

Shell seeking buyer for Anacortes refinery
Shell Puget Sound Refinery on March Point is for sale, the refinery’s parent company announced Thursday. Shell Oil Products U.S., a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, is seeking a buyer for two U.S. refineries — the Anacortes refinery and a refinery in Mobile, Alabama, according to a Thursday news release. The news release states that the process may take months and may not result in a sale. The company stated it may elect to take the refineries off the market at any time. Jacqueline Allison reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

How Seashells Feed Trees
In summer 2018, Kieran Cox stood on the coast of Calvert Island, 420 kilometers northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia, transfixed by crows dropping clams on rocks to get to the fleshy meal inside. For the University of Victoria PhD candidate, it was a “lightbulb moment.” The crows were not just getting a snack but were also transporting the nutrients in the shellfish from ocean to land, transferring calcium, phosphorus, vitamin B12, trace minerals, and more to terrestrial plants and animals. Christopher Pollen reports. (Hakai Magazine)


Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  214 AM PST Fri Mar 6 2020   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON   
TODAY  SE wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 11 ft  at 13 seconds. A slight chance of showers. 
TONIGHT  SE wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell  8 ft at 12 seconds. A chance of showers. 
SAT  Light wind becoming W to 10 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 12 seconds. A chance of  showers in the morning then showers likely and a slight chance of  tstms in the afternoon. 
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 11 seconds. 
SUN  Light wind. Wind waves less than 1 ft. W swell 4 ft at  10 seconds.



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