1/4 Boccacio, tribal climate, USACE permits, pollock, L.WA sockeye, Somers veto, ANWR drilling, oil train derail, Kalama methanol, pinto abalone, BC fish farms, Navy training, orca deaths, Junban

Boccacio [NOAA]

 
The B.C. fish you've likely never heard of that's confounding trawlers and officials
A species of fish you've probably never heard about has made a major comeback from being endangered, but now B.C. fishermen can't avoid catching it, threatening their ability to earn a living. Bocaccio rockfish are among the largest of the dozens of types of rockfish that live along the Pacific coast of North America. Their name is derived from the Italian term bocacho, meaning big-mouthed. Chad Pawson reports. (CBC)

For tribes, climate change fight is about saving culture
When Terry Williams grew interested in climate change in the 1970s, he found information about human-caused global warming to be conflicting and confusing. “It didn’t make sense until the early ’80s, when we saw a difference in the timing of the floods,” the Tulalip Tribes elder recalled. Later studies bore out what was happening in the tribes’ traditional lands. “The glaciers were melting two to three months early. We got floods in November and December instead of March and April. Rainfall had increased 6%.” Julie Titone reports. (Everett Herald)

Hotly debated national permit for shellfish farms could be passed to Biden administration
Legal protections for marine shorelines, streams and wetlands could be revised just before President Trump leaves office, as the Army Corps of Engineers updates 52 “nationwide permits” that allow for a variety of water-related projects. Of particular interest in Washington state is a nationwide permit proposed for shellfish farms that would, purportedly, help to resolve an ongoing court battle over the effects of aquaculture on the shoreline environment. In June, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik invalidated permits for an estimated 900 shellfish farms, saying the environmental impacts had not been adequately studied. Chris Dunagan reports. (Puget Sound Institute)

After a tough 2020 of small fish and COVID-19, North Pacific pollock fleet prepares for winter season
Skipper Kevin Ganley spent most of the summer and fall pulling a massive trawl net through the Bering Sea in a long slow search for pollock, a staple of McDonald’s fish sandwiches. The fish proved very hard to find. Ganley’s boat is part of a fleet of largely Washington-based trawlers that have had a difficult year as they joined in North America’s largest single-species seafood harvest. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)

Lake Washington sockeye hit record low, another signature Seattle fish at brink of extinction
They are as Seattle as the Space Needle. But Lake Washington sockeye, once the largest run of sockeye in the Lower 48, are failing. The smallest run on record returned to the Cedar River in 2020, a bottoming out after years of declines. There hasn’t been a fishery on Lake Washington sockeye since 2006 — and now extinction looms. What’s worse is scientists are not even sure how to fix it, as a vortex of climate change, urbanization and predators endangers a beloved species. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

County executive vetoes fee break to save environmental work
In a seldom-used move, county Executive Dave Somers vetoed a Snohomish County Council vote, saying their decision would lead to a loss of environmental conservation funding. In November, the County Council voted to nix a 2.8% annual surface water fee increase to give ratepayers a break as many struggle financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fee funds environmental programs that protect salmon and marine habitat and work to reduce flood damage. Julia-Grace Sanders reports. (Everett Herald)

Sale of Arctic Drilling Leases Draws an Unusual Taker. It May Be the Only One
After a three-year push by the Trump administration to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling — an effort that culminated in a rush to sell leases before the White House changes hands — in the end the only taker may be the state of Alaska itself. With a Thursday deadline for submitting bids for 10-year leases on tracts covering more than one million acres of the refuge, there is little indication that oil companies are interested in buying the rights to drill under difficult conditions, to extract more costly fossil fuels for a world that increasingly is seeking to wean itself off them. Henry Fountain reports. (NY Times)

Derailed oil train cars removed after crash near Canadian border
Crews on Tuesday removed the train cars carrying crude oil that derailed north of Bellingham and near the Canadian border last week. BNSF employees and contractors loaded the cars onto flatbed trucks for removal from the derailment site in Custer. BNSF spokeswoman Courtney Wallace said all the cars would be removed on Tuesday. She also confirmed Tuesday that ten cars of the tanker train hauling oil derailed on Dec. 22, which was several more than previously reported. Lisa Baumann reports. (Associated Press)

Proposed Washington methanol plant would likely slow rise of global greenhouse gas emissions, says new study 
A state study has found a “high likelihood” that a $2 billion natural gas-based methanol plant proposed for Kalama could slow the rise in global greenhouse gas emissions produced by the global industry. Whether these savings were real — or just part of the sales pitch of the developer — has been a key question hanging over the Cowlitz County project, which was proposed in 2014 and immediately generated fierce opposition from environmentalists as an unwanted expansion of the region’s use of fossil fuels. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)

Report: Pinto abalone in peril
Pinto abalone, the only abalone species native to the Salish Sea and a species undergoing restoration efforts in Skagit and San Juan counties, is in trouble. State and regional experts have known of the pinto abalone’s plight for years, but a new report from the Endangered Species Coalition puts its struggles in the limelight. The coalition’s report “Trafficked: 10 Species Threatened by the Wildlife Trade” highlights pinto abalone as one of 10 species at risk of extinction due both to legal harvesting at unsustainable levels and illegal harvesting — or poaching. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Fish out of water: How B.C.’s salmon farmers fell behind the curve of sustainable, land-based aquaculture
Public and political pressure to remove open net pens from the province’s coastal waters has grown steadily in recent years with farms now being forced out of wild salmon migratory routes. So, as terrestrial fish farming takes off globally, why hasn’t the industry been more receptive to rearing salmon on land? The third of three parts. Sarah Cox reports. (The Narwhal)

Comment period extended for Navy's training plan
About a week after issuing a State Environmental Policy Act determination for the Navy’s proposal to train in state parks, the State Parks Commission announced Wednesday an extension of the public comment period. Comment will be accepted through Jan. 22. That’s a few days prior to the Jan. 26 public meeting to be held online at tvw.org. The Navy’s proposal is to conduct special operations training in 28 state parks including Deception Pass State Park. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Study: Humans cause more orca deaths than previously understood
Researchers have long known that dwindling salmon runs, water pollution and loud underwater boat noise are major contributors to the reduced number of orcas along the West Coast. Now, a ten-year study of killer whale carcasses found washed up on beaches in the eastern Pacific Ocean has found a significant number who died from more direct human causes. “This study was really a decade-long look at what do killer whales die from, from California to Alaska all the way out to Hawaii,” said Joe Gaydos, a wildlife veterinarian with UC Davis who participated in the study. Liam Moriarty reports. (Jefferson Public Radio)

Junban
I grew up on a small farm on a big river. The river was called the Fraser..." Jillian Tamaki relates a story. (The New Yorker)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  208 AM PST Mon Jan 4 2021   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM PST THIS MORNING  THROUGH LATE TONIGHT   TODAY  SW wind 15 to 25 kt becoming W 10 to 20 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 14 ft at 17 seconds.  Rain in the morning then a chance of showers and a slight chance  of tstms in the afternoon. 
TONIGHT  SW wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  15 ft at 17 seconds. A chance of showers in the evening then a  slight chance of showers after midnight.

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