2/21 Caspian Tern, closing fish farms, salmon parks, totem return, BC forest loss, View Royal stream. starving orcas, lipids in salmon, crab cost, wastewater test, seed collection

 

Caspian Terns [Tony Angell]

Determined Flight
One of the larger terns-- the Caspian-- migrates throughout the world and now resides in the Salish Sea. Tony Angell writes. (Salish Current)

Fisheries Department says it will shut 15 salmon farms off B.C.'s coast to protect wild fish
Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray has announced the federal government will not renew licences for 15 open-net Atlantic salmon farms around British Columbia's Discovery Islands. Murray says in a news release the Discovery Islands area is a key migration route for wild salmon where narrow passages bring migrating juvenile salmon into close contact with the farms. She says recent science indicates uncertainty over the risks posed by the farms to wild salmon, and the government is committed to developing a responsible plan to transition away from open-net farming in coastal B.C. waters.  Meissner reports. (Canadian Press)

Salmon Parks
The tiny Nuchatlaht Nation, with fewer than 200 enrolled members, in 2017 filed suit in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, to reassert their right and title to the territory on northern Nootka Island they had never ceded. The case went to trial in March 2022 and a decision is pending. The litigation is closely watched in a province where First Nations see the lands and waters that have always sustained them threatened by industrial development. Leaders of the Nuchatlaht Tribe and Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations want to heal and protect their territory with salmon parks, a new, Indigenous-led conservation initiative. By Lynda V. Mapes, Erika Schultz and Lauren Frohne report. (Seattle Times)

Celebration marks repatriation of B.C. totem to Nuxalk Nation after century-long wait
Carved in the mid-1800s as an entrance pole to a long house, the Snow family pole was later used as a marker for a family grave but was taken without permission in 1913 and added to a collection of the Royal B.C. Museum. (Canadian Press)

B.C.’s forest loss can be seen from space
B.C. has lost so much tree cover over the past 20-plus years that you can see it from space. It has lost more tree canopy since 2000 than any other province, driven largely by wildfires and forestry practices. Nathan Griffiths reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Fish showing up in View Royal stream once choked with weeds
It was just a ditch two years ago, clogged with fill from highway construction and choked by blackberries and weeds. But now, a small stream around the new site of B.C. Transit’s HandyDART facility at Burnside Road and Watkiss Way in View Royal is a salmon-bearing tributary of Craigflower Creek. Remediation efforts by B.C. ­Transit and legions of volunteers have transformed the seasonal waterway into a salmon habitat by changing its course and riparian areas. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

Puget Sound Orcas are Starving. Is the Solution Shutting Down Alaskan Chinook Fisheries?
An estimated 97 percent of the Chinook caught by that Alaskan fishery spawn outside Alaska. Many of those fish might normally nourish the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKWs) – our Puget Sound orcas. These orcas have been listed as endangered since 2005 and are generally thought to be starving. So what has the federal government done? It has tried to give the Alaskan fishery legal cover.  Dan Chasan writes. (Post Alley)

Lipid Content of Fraser River Chinook Salmon Is Lipid-rich and Energy Dense, Which Is Important for Killer Whales’ Diet
Not all Chinook salmon are created equal, which has a significant impact on the energy levels of southern resident killer whales. A recent study quantified the lipid content in Fraser River Chinook salmon, the preferred meal of southern residents, and discovered that spring-run Chinook salmon, the first to arrive in the Salish Sea, is lipid-rich and energy-dense, which is important for the killer whales that prey on them. Later-season Fraser River Chinook salmon have a lower energy density. Paw Mozter reports. (Nature World News)

Dungeness crab at $5.99/lb. Nice! But crab fishers get $2/lb. Tough deal.
You’ve seen the flyers. QFC, Fred Meyer, Safeway and others: “Love local. Fresh wild-caught whole cooked Dungeness crab. $5.99 lb with card.” ... For the Dungeness crab fishers — a number of them small operators — it’s tough days. They’re getting $2 a pound, maybe $2.25 a pound wholesale for the crab. In last winter’s boom times they were getting $5.50 a pound from processors. Erik Lacitis reports. (Seattle Times)

Wastewater testing isn’t just for COVID: WA expands efforts
...Epidemiology teams started sampling wastewater in October 2021 — at first at three sites in two counties, with the intention of building an early warning system that could predict COVID-19 surges. Now, the team has expanded to 28 sites in 16 counties, and is talking about beginning to monitor for other viruses, like influenza and RSV. Elise Takahama reports. (Seattle Times)

PSE pushes to control new renewable energy projects in WA
Puget Sound Energy is pushing for legislation that would help it secure a large ownership stake in new renewable projects in the state. The new projects would replace the fossil-fueled power plants the private utility is expected to gradually shutter in the next two decades because of Washington laws that seek to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Companion bills in both chambers of the state Legislature would ensure that PSE owns 60% of new solar, wind and other renewable energy projects that supply power to the state’s largest private utility. The investor-owned utility would be required to stop offering new commercial or residential natural gas hookups by June and file a decarbonization plan every four years starting in 2026. Isabella Breda and Hal Bernton report. (Seattle Times)

Climate equity working group 'disappointed' after Vancouver city council rejects climate justice charter
For more than two years, Navdeep Chhina and 15 other members of the City of Vancouver's Climate Equity Working Group worked to create a Climate Justice Charter to help guide city staff around efforts to address climate- and equity-related issues. On Wednesday, city council rejected that charter. Priya Bhat reports. (CBC)

Mass seed collection in Oregon designed to protect native trees from invasive species
Oregon forestry officials have collected over 900,000 seeds from a native tree species, in an effort to protect against an invasive insect. Nathan Wilk reports. (KLCC)

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  257 AM PST Tue Feb 21 2023    GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON 
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH  WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON   
TODAY  W wind 25 to 35 kt. Combined seas 17 to 19 ft with a  dominant period of 13 seconds. A chance of showers and a slight  chance of tstms in the morning then a slight chance of rain in  the afternoon. 
TONIGHT  E wind 10 to 20 kt becoming NE 15 to 25 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 17 ft at 15 seconds. A  chance of rain in the evening then a slight chance of rain after  midnight.

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