6/5 Rockfish, Bill James, Trump's pipe and air, BC old growth, BC virus, more on slug

Quillback rockfish [Brenna Green]

Quillback rockfish Sebastes maliger
Quillback rockfish range from the Kenai Peninsula in the Gulf of Alaska to Anacapa Passage in southern California. They can be found from subtidal waters to depths of 274 m (900 ft). Juveniles are usually shallower than adults and can be found on bull kelp-covered rocky outcrops, while adults tend to live in deeper water as solitary individuals. They are bottom dwellers that prefer high-relief, broken rock with flat-bladed kelps. In Puget Sound animals living on high relief areas have a very limited home range and have a high fidelity to their home sites. Quillback rockfish can grow up to 61 cm (24 in) in length. Maximum age is 95 years old. (WDFW)

Bill James, hereditary chief at Lummi, master weaver, dies at age 75 
Bill Tsi’li’xw James, hereditary chief of the Lummi people, was a teacher of culture, language and art who passed on teachings until his last breath. Sharp in his mind until his passing June 1 at age 75 from a hereditary liver disease, Chief James was stood up as hereditary chief of the Lummi People in 2010, a role for which he was selected and groomed by the heads of Lummi families as a young man. He grew into a formidable spokesman for his people on the front lines of some of the most important fights of a generation, including a successful campaign in 2016 with tribes and their allies to block construction of the largest coal port in North America at Cherry Point. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Trump, Citing Pandemic, Moves to Weaken Two Key Environmental Protections
The Trump administration, in twin actions to curb environmental regulations, moved on Thursday to temporarily speed the construction of energy projects and to permanently weaken federal authority to issue stringent clean air and climate change rules. President Trump signed an executive order that calls on agencies to waive required environmental reviews of infrastructure projects to be built during the pandemic-driven economic crisis. At the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new rule that changes the way the agency uses cost-benefit analyses to enact Clean Air Act regulations, effectively limiting the strength of future air pollution controls. Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman report. (NY Times)

Independent researchers say B.C. vastly overestimates the size of its old growth forest
A team of independent researchers claim in a new report that the province's accounting of old growth trees is vastly larger than the actual number of trees most people would consider old growth, namely coniferous giants. The three co-authors of B.C.'s Old Growth Forest: A Last Stand for Biodiversity write that most of what is currently considered old growth are small subalpine or bog forests. Rafferty Baker reports. (CBC)

Strains from Europe and Eastern Canada account for most COVID-19 cases in B.C., genomic data shows
Strains traced to Europe and Eastern Canada are by far the largest source of COVID-19 infections in B.C., according to new modelling presented by the provincial government Thursday. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry revealed the results of genomic tracing of different strains of the virus, showing that of those samples that have been sequenced, early cases linked to travel from China and Iran appear to have been well contained, leading to relatively few other infections. But beginning in March, with an outbreak that began with the Pacific Dental Conference in Vancouver, infections with strains from Eastern Canada and Europe spiked dramatically.... The numbers show that in the Lower Mainland, Richmond has had the lowest percentage of cases, with just 444 per million residents, compared to 832 in Vancouver, 911 on the North Shore, and 1,241 cases per million in the area from Abbotsford to Hope in Fraser Health. thany Lindsay and Justin McElroy report. (CBC)

Regarding the Chocolate arion profiled yesterday, Norm Baker writes: "I was surprised to see your comments about the  Arion ater/Arion rufus complex. As a trained PhD ecologist and horticulturist, describing this animal as a serious pest is something of an understatement. Describing it as a serious pest is accurate. Here on the Olympic Peninsula, up in the mountains at 1800 feet with the rains and humidity, we have watched this animal spread across the countryside in an environment that is best described as "damn near ideal". They eat almost everything - especially vegetables and flowers (the actual flower). We are running two large biochar research gardens and we have to patrol those gardens at least twice a week. Up in the yard where all the daylilies and other plants are, my wife patrols the area with scissors in hand, cutting them into when she finds them. She always finds some and after a while she started keeping count. Her record for one day is 737 slugs over a couple of hours. She cuts them into two pieces with the scissors and, if she remembers, goes back later to check again where she often finds one or two more slugs feeding on the remains of the slugs she killed previously. It took this animal about three years to go into about 400 yards of new habitat. Now we find them everywhere."



Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  245 AM PDT Fri Jun 5 2020   
TODAY  W wind to 10 kt rising to 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 12 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  5 ft at 11 seconds. A slight chance of showers in the evening  then a chance of showers after midnight. 
SAT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5 ft  at 10 seconds. A chance of showers in the morning then showers  likely and a slight chance of tstms in the afternoon. 
SAT NIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt easing to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less after midnight. W  swell 4 ft at 11 seconds. 
SUN  W wind to 10 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5 ft at 9 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