10/6 Stink bug, Tokitae's health, orca hunt great white sharks, Lorna Smith, AK green crab, burning wood

Stink bug {WSU/Elizabeth H. Beers]

Brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys Stål
The brown marmorated stink bug is an invasive pest from Asia, whose native range is China, Korea, and Japan.  It was first found in the US in Pennsylvania in the mid-1990s, and in the Pacific Northwest (Portland) about 2004.  Washington populations were first established in Vancouver (across the Columbia River from Portland), and have since spread north along the I-5 corridor. To date, brown marmorated stink bug has been recorded in 21 counties in Washington, with the majority of finds occurring in western Washington, along the Columbia River east to Walla Walla, and in Yakima. (WSU)

Report: Aging orca taken from Puget Sound fighting chronic infection at Miami Seaquarium
Ongoing medical issues may further hinder efforts to return an orca that was captured and sold to an aquarium in Florida, back home to Washington state... According to an independent veterinary report, Tokitae continues to battle an unidentified chronic infection while showing signs of discomfort. While on antibiotics, Tokitae is active, engaged with trainers and maintains a good appetite. However, her appetite and activity level decrease, according to the report. The report, issued Sept. 30, states near the end of the month Tokitae "experienced a period of decreased appetite and low activity." PJ Randhawa reports. (KING)

Rare drone footage shows orcas mauling great white sharks
Drone and helicopter footage captured off the coast of South Africa provides what scientists say is the first direct proof that orcas are capable of hunting and killing one of the world’s largest sea predators: the great white shark. A study published this week in the journal Ecology details a more than hour-long pursuit of a number of white sharks by a pod of killer whales off Mossel Bay, a harbor town in South Africa’s Western Cape province. At least two white sharks were killed over a 71-minute period in May, the researchers said. Rachel Pannett reports. (Washington Post)

Eleanor Stopps Award presented
Environmental advocate Lorna Smith was recognized for decades of conservation work Wednesday when she was given the 2022 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award during a Port Townsend Marine Science Center ceremony at Fort Worden. Smith’s environmental career began in 1978 as a volunteer at Seattle Audubon. She worked with the late Eleanor Stopps, for whom the award is named, in the campaign that led to the creation of the Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge in 1982. Peter Segall reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Months after first sighting, Metlakatla is now catching dozens of invasive green crabs a day
Wildlife officials in Metlakatla continue to trap record-setting numbers of the invasive crab species that threaten local subsistence food sources and fish habitat. The tribe’s Department of Fish and Wildlife has trapped hundreds of European green crabs — but the numbers keep growing.
Raegan Miller reports. (KRBD)

Wood from B.C. forests is being burned for electricity billed as green — but critics say that's deceptive
From the highway just south of Prince George, B.C., you can see the logs, thousands of them, piled neatly in rows.  They were cut from trees in old growth and primary forests in the province's Interior. This timber won't be used to build homes or furniture, or even to make paper. These logs will be ground and compressed into tiny pellets, shipped to Europe and Asia and burned to produce fuel for electricity. Lyndsay Duncombe, Harvey Cashore and Lynette Fortune report. (CBC)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  251 AM PDT Thu Oct 6 2022   
TODAY  SE wind to 10 kt becoming E in the afternoon. Wind waves  1 ft or less. W swell 3 ft at 9 seconds. Areas of fog in the  morning. 
TONIGHT  Light wind. Wind waves less than 1 ft. W swell 2 ft at  11 seconds.

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