9/10 Red ribbon, Salish Current, Skagit habitat, Bristol Bay, insect names, SeaTimes site cleanup, marine debris, Duwamish superfund, post-Ida, Atlantic collapse, week in review

Red Ribbon [Seaweeds of the Pacific NW]

Red Ribbon, Dulce Palmaria mollie
Red ribbon grows on rocks in the mid-intertidal to upper-subintertidal. It can be found among semi-protected and semi-exposed shorelines from the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands to southern California, as well as Russia. Red ribbon is edible and packed with good nutrients, including vitamins A and C. The blades are commonly dried, ground into a powder, and added to soups and breads for extra nutrients and texture. This seaweed is also eaten fresh in salads and other dishes. (Biodiversity of the Central Coast)

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Kids, the cohorts with the lowest vaccination rates, go back to the classroom. Read the story, "Pack a lunch, don a mask: kids go back to school in person as COVID-19 persists,"  this week's offering in Salish Current.  It's open-access, ad-free, independent, fact-based, nonpartisan, not-for-profit, reader-supported journalism serving the Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit community. Give it a try with a free subscription to our weekly newsletter: mikesato772@gmail.com

Swinomish threaten to sue over salmon habitat
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community sent the Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday a 60-day notice of intent to sue over what it says is the corps’ failure to uphold the federal Endangered Species Act, according to a news release from the tribe. The tribe said the corps has granted construction permits to dike districts in the Skagit River delta over the past five years without requiring that estuary habitat be restored as mitigation for harm such construction causes endangered chinook salmon. (Skagit Valley Herald)

EPA to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay, blocking major gold mine
The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it would restore protections for Alaska’s Bristol Bay, blocking the construction of a massive and controversial gold mine near the world’s largest sockeye salmon run. The policy shift, indicated in a court filing Thursday in response to a lawsuit filed by the mine’s opponents, deals a serious blow to a project that has been in the works for more than a decade and would have transformed southwest Alaska’s landscape. Joshua Patlow and Dino Grandoni report. (Washington Post)

When catchy names for insects sting — think ‘Asian giant hornet’
Entomologists push to rename the world’s largest wasp amid conversations about other controversial insect names. Hannah Weinberger reports. (Crosscut)

Cleaning up: Agreement maps cleanup process at former Seattle Times site
The Department of Ecology is open for public comment on the cleanup agreement between the state and the purchasers who will develop the old Seattle Times building site. Printing and distributing a daily newspaper takes petroleum- and solvent-based inks and motor fuel, stored, along with waste oil, in at least 11 underground tanks. Preliminary studies by Omni’s environmental consultants have documented the presence of oils, solvents and related compounds in soil and groundwater at concentrations above Washington’s cleanup standards. (Dept. of Ecology)

NOAA awards $7.3mn for marine debris removal
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US Department of Commerce has announced $7.3 million in fiscal year 2021 grants supporting 25 projects to address the harmful effects of marine debris on wildlife, navigation safety, ecosystem health, and the economy. Approximately $1.8 million will support 10 removal projects in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Washington. Approximately $4.1 million will support 10 marine debris prevention and removal projects in the Great Lakes, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, Mexican Caribbean, North America Pacific Ocean, Salish Sea, and Tijuana River estuary. (SocialNews)

Opinion: On the 20th anniversary of its Superfund listing, the Duwamish River faces a triple threat
This Monday will mark 20 years since Seattle’s hometown river was declared a Superfund site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Duwamish River’s history is a case study of environmental injustices. Paulina López, James Rasmussen and BJ Cummings opine. (Seattle Times)

U.S. Coast Guard Works Overtime to Manage Post-Hurricane Cleanup 
One week after Hurricane Ida struck southern Louisiana, the U.S. Coast Guard is still working overtime to help contain spills, replace aids to navigation and refloat grounded vessels. The service's National Response Center - which coordinates waterborne pollution information - has received hundreds of reports of potential hazards, and the Coast Guard has assessed more than 800 to date. More than 450 of these incidents are serious enough to require a mitigation effort by the responsible party, and the USCG is actively supervising these cases. 86 more reports are still under investigation. (Maritime Executive)

A critical ocean system may be heading for collapse due to climate change, study finds
Human-caused warming has led to an “almost complete loss of stability” in the system that drives Atlantic Ocean currents, a new study has found — raising the worrying prospect that this critical aquatic “conveyor belt” could be close to collapse. In recent years, scientists have warned about a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which transports warm, salty water from the tropics to northern Europe and then sends colder water back south along the ocean floor. Sarah Kaplan reports. (Washington Post)

Salish Sea News Week in Review 9/10/21: Collider Friday, Salish Current, hawk, Wild Olympics, sea cucumber, WA snowpack, J56, BC MPA, Biden's solar, Bigg's orcas, Fairy Cr, Skagit habitat, Bristol Bay

Now, your weekend tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  251 AM PDT Fri Sep 10 2021   
TODAY  Light wind becoming W 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 2 ft at 8 seconds. A slight chance of  showers. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming SW to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 1 ft at 6 seconds. A slight  chance of showers after midnight. 
SAT  E wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 2 ft at  10 seconds building to 6 ft at 13 seconds in the afternoon. A  chance of showers in the morning then showers likely in the  afternoon. 
SAT NIGHT  W wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell  7 ft at 13 seconds. 
SUN  W wind to 10 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 13 seconds.

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"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.

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