4/4 Hermit crab, SEAL training, BC logging, herring season, Port Gamble S'Klallam, toilet paper, Intalco, crab fishery, gray whale, COVID ship, pocket gopher

Hermit crab [Seattle Aquarium)

Hermit crab
Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an asymmetric abdomen concealed by a snug-fitting shell. (Wikipedia)

Judge rules against Navy SEAL training at Washington State Parks
The Navy SEALs won’t be able to use Washington State Parks as training grounds. A judge on Friday ruled against an earlier decision to allow the training at up to 28 parks. In January 2021, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission voted 4-3 to approve the Navy’s proposal to use up to 28 parks for training purposes, where SEALs would emerge from the water under the cover of darkness and disappear into the environment...Advocacy group Whidbey Environmental Action Network, often called WEAN, sought a judicial review of the commission’s decision. Courtney Flatt report. (NW News Network)

B.C. government announces additional logging deferrals for at-risk old-growth trees
The B.C. government announced additional temporary measures on Friday to protect the province's iconic old-growth trees that can live for hundreds of years and support rich ecological areas. Approximately 1.05 million hectares of forests that are most at risk of irreversible loss will now be off limits to logging for at least two years, nearly half of what was determined to be at high risk by a scientific panel in November of 2021. Chad Pawson reports. (CBC) See also: B.C.'s plan to defer old-growth logging with First Nations reaches 80 per cent of target  Lisa Cordasco reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Dismal B.C. herring season sparks renewed calls for moratorium
Three days after setting his nets out in the Strait of Georgia between B.C.'s mainland and Vancouver Island, Josh Young headed back home to Pender Harbour. The herring he was expecting to catch were nowhere to be found...The result appears to have surprised the department, too. Curt Petrovich reports. (CBC)

The Port Gamble lumber mill closed decades ago. Now the tribe that was forced from the land is returning
After more than a century, [a tribal] cemetery is back in S’Klallam hands, part of a larger circle of history, as descendants of the ancestors displaced by the Pope & Talbot lumber mill in 1853 work with successors of the timber company to heal their relationship, and this place. Returning the cemetery in 2016 to S’Klallam ownership was just the beginning: The tribe has since bought back more than 900 acres from Pope Resources, and last summer, sealed the deal on the purchase of development rights on part of the former mill site that displaced their ancestral village. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

The battle for your toilet paper is on
Early in the pandemic, toilet paper shortages pushed weary Americans to the fringes. Out of necessity, millions tried rolls made from recycled paper or bamboo. And what they found surprised them. These alternatives were actually soft, far from the sandpaper-ish versions they grudgingly used at their office or in a public restroom. That revelation is shaking up what had been a stable — even boring — category that racked up about $10 billion at U.S. retailers last year. Daniela Sirtori-Cortina reports. (Bloomberg)

'Green’ aluminum inches closer in Northwest, if only they can power the last remaining smelter
The push to restart the Pacific Northwest’s last remaining aluminum smelter got a boost this week. It also absorbed a setback as officials debate the value of domestic production and how to allocate the region's finite, low-cost hydropower. The prospective new owners of the idled Alcoa Intalco Works smelter near Ferndale, Washington, secured $10 million in taxpayer support to upgrade the decades-old factory. But the smelter requires a significant amount of energy to operate. And that is now the central problem. Tom Banse reports. (NW News Network)

Into the ice: A crab boat’s quest for snow crab in a Bering Sea upended by climate change
....[Captain Mark] Casto and his crew had ventured to this northern realm of the Bering Sea in search of a crab that for decades was found in great abundance in rich fishing grounds more than 200 miles to the south. But in the aftermath of a period of extreme ocean warming, the populations of snow crab imploded in the traditional harvest areas off the Pribilof Islands. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times) See also: Federal changes to B.C. crab fishery could put some commercial harvesters out of business  Chad Pawson reports. (CBC)

Gray whale beached on Camano
Officials are responding to a dead gray whale found beached on the west side of Camano Island. On Friday, NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region posted about the massive stranded mammal, saying a necropsy would be performed the next day. The agency posted photos of the animal belly-up on a rocky beach. (Everett Herald)

Cruise ship headed to Victoria had 'lots of COVID,' passenger says
A Canadian passenger aboard the Caribbean Princess said there was “lots of COVID-19” on the cruise ship, which has cancelled its scheduled stops in Victoria and Vancouver this week. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

Public can comment on Thurston code amendments to protect gophers, ease permitting
Residents will have another chance to weigh in on Thurston County’s plan to locally manage federally protected species such as the pocket gopher during an April 6 public hearing regarding county code amendments. The county’s Planning Commission will host the hearing virtually at 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to a county news release. An online open house began on March 28, allowing residents to submit comments before the hearing. Martin Bilbao reports. (Olympian)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  320 AM PDT Mon Apr 4 2022   
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING   
TODAY  W wind 25 to 35 kt rising to 30 to 40 kt in the  afternoon. Combined seas 15 to 17 ft with a dominant period of  13 seconds. Rain. 
TONIGHT  W wind 30 to 40 kt. Combined seas 22 to 23 ft with a  dominant period of 13 seconds. Rain likely in the evening then a  chance of rain after midnight.

--

"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to mikesato772 (@) gmail.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