2/8 Squirrel, Snake breach, nutrient discharge, BC herring, poop DNA, Ellie Kinley, BC mines, fish farm closure, Islands Trust, whale watch licenses, forage fish beaches, propane tanker crash, mammoth tooth, BC lake fish stocking

Douglas squirrel
[Walter Siegmund/WikiMedia]

Douglas squirrel Tamiasciurus douglasii
The Douglas squirrel is a pine squirrel found in the Pacific Northwest of North America, including the coastal states of the United States as well as the southwestern coast of British Columbia in Canada. (Wikipedia)

GOP congressman pitches $34 billion plan to breach Lower Snake River dams in new vision for Northwest 
For nearly three decades, the region has been stuck in unending litigation and spiraling costs as salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers decline toward extinction. But in a sweeping $34 billion proposal from an unlikely source, at an auspicious moment, comes a chance for a fresh start. Could Congressman Mike Simpson, a Republican from a conservative district in eastern Idaho, have launched a concept that will forever alter life on the Columbia and Snake — and finally honor tribal treaty fishing rights in the Columbia Basin? Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Ecology Department seeks public comment on draft permit to control nutrients discharged by wastewater treatment plants
The Washington State Department of Ecology is asking for public review and comment on a draft permit aimed at better controlling nutrients that wastewater treatment plants. The Puget Sound Nutrient General Permit applies to nearly 60 treatment plants that discharge directly to Puget Sound and its estuaries. All of the facilities already have individual National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) water quality permits that include a wide range of requirements to protect water quality. However, only a few of these NPDES permits currently require nutrient controls. The new general permit will focus only on controlling nutrients and work in conjunction with the broader individual permits for each facility, the Ecology Department says. (My Edmonds News)

Hornby Island group wants roe herring moratorium
The public comment might have passed for the upcoming herring fishery, but Conservancy Hornby Island still wants Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to impose a moratorium. Industry advocates have pointed to a healthier than projected population last year, the need for economic opportunities in the fisheries and a biomass threshold that would stop the fishery if the visiting herring population is too small. (BC Local News)

DNA analysis being used to identify sources of bacterial pollution in area watersheds
The continued search for where the bacterial pollution found in the Samish and Padilla Bay watersheds comes from has turned to DNA analysis for help.  Results from the first year of a two-year study show there is no single source, but rather several along area creeks, sloughs and the Samish River itself. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Who we are: Ellie Kinley 
Her father was a fisherman who never gave up, so was her husband. And Ellie Kinley does not plan on giving up either. Kinley is a Lummi tribal member who lives outside Bellingham, Wash. Her family’s seiner, the F/V Salish Sea, is one of some 560 boats in the nation’s largest native fleet. Both her father and husband have passed, and Kinley now seines for salmon along with her kids, Luke, 27, and Kyle, 23. Poor salmon runs over the last few years have limited the Kinleys’ harvest. Last season, they were not allowed to fish for chum salmon, and this season the sockeye fishery was shut down. Brian Hagenbuch reports. (National Fisherman)

B.C.’s ‘dirty secret’: more than 100 contaminated mine sites threaten water, wildlife and communities 
New research finds lax provincial regulations allow companies to discharge toxic wastewater with metal concentrations hundreds of times higher than what’s considered safe for aquatic life. Matt Simmons reports. (The Narwhal)

Aquaculture workers worry about bleak future with the closing of farms in the Discovery Islands
Fish farming has been a family affair for Paul Pattison. He's the manager of operations for Mowi Canada West's Discovery Islands group of farms. His wife is an accountant with the company. His brother works for Mowi's health and safety department. His mother-in-law and sister-in-law work in accounting and sales for contractors, and his cousins are fish processors. He says it came as a rude shock to them all when late last year the federal government announced that all open-net fish farms in the Discovery Islands would be phased out over the next 18 months. Kieran Oudshoorn reports. (CBC)

Islands Trust budget includes new measures to protect land and ecosystems
Gabriola Island residents are in line for a 3.3-per cent increase to their tax requisition from Islands Trust, with some of that going to new measures to protect island ecosystems.The Islands Trust, a collective of local governments for islands on the Salish Sea, has an $8.8-million budget proposed for 2021-22, with a 9.2 per cent increase (approximately $742,000) in total operating costs, according to a press release. Approximately $395,000 is slated for four new staff hires: a full-time bylaw enforcement officer, temporary part-time bylaw communications officer and a pair of workers who will assist with a species-at-risk program. Karl Yu reports. (BC Local)

Whale watch companies say licensing system should be voluntary because of COVID-19
New licensing requirements for whale watch boats working in Washington waters take effect March 1...  But this week, state lawmakers began considering changes that would weaken those rules. A Senate bill that would make the licensing optional got a public hearing Thursday before the Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks Committee. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

Small fish, big barriers: A county confronts climate change
Island County doesn’t need a canary in the coal mine to warn of advancing climate change. It already has sea lance and surf smelt. The small fish are silvery links in the chain of Puget Sound life, eaten by many marine animals. They can’t survive without beaches and shallow water. Both habitats are in short supply because humans have armored shorelines with boulders, concrete bulkheads and dikes. Climate-driven sea level rise and storm surge can only make matters worse, said Lisa Kaufman, nearshore program manager for the Northwest Straits Foundation. Julie Titone reports. (Everett Herald)

NTSB says this is what caused the 2019 propane tanker crash at Cherry Point pier
A complacent atmosphere on the bridge of a massive propane tanker distracted the ship’s pilot, causing him to steer too fast and at the wrong angle toward the Petrogas pier at Cherry Point, according to an official report on the 2019 incident. In its report released Thursday afternoon, Feb. 4, the National Transportation Safety Board said “poor bridge resource management,” including a “non-pertinent” conversation with the pilot and the ship’s master, took the bridge crew’s attention away from the docking maneuver on a ship partially loaded with highly flammable cargo. Robert Mittendorf reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Camano Island family finds woolly mammoth tooth on the beach 
The sun was finally out after a series of storms lashed Camano Island in mid-January, and the Root family decided to walk the beach. And at the base of a bluff, something caught Marc Root’s eye. Brittany Root and Marc Root carrying their 2-year-old son Knox in a backpack, went to investigate and started to dig. He found what he thought was part of a large striped rock with agates embedded in it. It wasn’t a rock. Marc Root was holding a woolly mammoth tooth, though he didn’t realize it at the time. Evan Caldwell reports. (Skagit Publishing)

Despite pandemic challenges, B.C. lakes stocked with millions of fish
The Freshwater Fisheries Society of British Columbia’s 100 staff delivered 5.63 million fish into 662 lakes across the province last year. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  243 AM PST Mon Feb 8 2021   
TODAY  E wind 10 to 20 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 6 ft at 9 seconds. 
TONIGHT  E wind 5 to 15 kt becoming 10 to 20 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 4 ft at 10 seconds.

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