7/27 Red spaghetti, Billy Frank, Jr. ship, moving Tokitae, FL waters, crab fishery, BC 'chief ecologist,' BC nature

 

Red Spaghetti [Seaweeds of the Pacific NW]

Red Spaghetti Gracilariopsis sjoestedtii
Small, disc-shaped holdfast with round, noodle-like branches. Grows attached to small rocks or buried in the sand. Found British Columbia to Mexico.

Navy names ship after prominent Nisqually tribe member
The United States Navy is naming a new Navajo-Class Ship after Nisqually tribal member, environmental activist and treaty rights advocate Billy Frank Jr. Frank served as chair of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission for more than 30 years and received many honors for his work, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award and the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism. Frank passed away in 2014. Jack Belcher reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Timeline for Tokitae move unrealistic, state officials say
Ambitious plans to move the orca Tokitae — a 22-foot Southern Resident killer whale in captivity in Miami for more than 50 years — to an undisclosed location in north Puget Sound by the end of the year are not realistic, officials responsible for permits and logistics say...After months of work and studies, plans to transport Tokitae are no closer to coming to fruition without permits, which must be issued by an array of both federal and state officials. Julia Lerner reports. (CDN)

South Florida waters hit hot tub level and may have set world record for warmest seawater
The water temperature around the tip of Florida has hit triple digits — hot tub levels — two days in a row. Meteorologists say it could be the hottest seawater ever measured, although some questions about the reading remain. Scientists are already seeing devastating effects from prolonged hot water surrounding Florida — coral bleaching and even the death of some corals in what had been one of the Florida Keys’ most resilient reefs. Climate change has set temperature records across the globe this month. Seth Borenstein reports. (Associated Press)

How Ocean Warming Is Killing a Prime Alaska Crab Fishery
For the Aleut community of St. Paul, Alaska, the loss of snow crabs is rippling through the economy and raising concerns about the future. Andrew S. Lewis reports. (Yale Environment 360/Hakai Magazine)

B.C. is weighing the merits of appointing a ‘chief ecologist,’ internal docs show
As species disappear and ecosystems collapse, the new role could help keep B.C. accountable on forthcoming biodiversity laws and policies. Ainslie Cruickshank reports. (The Narwhal)

Nature to the North
David B. Williams visited our Canadian neighbor and rhapsodizes about swarms of eagles, Douglas fir stumps, and ochre sea stars. (Street Smart Naturalist)

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  255 AM PDT Thu Jul 27 2023   
TODAY  Light wind becoming W 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves less than 1 ft becoming 1 to 3 ft in the afternoon. W swell  2 ft at 8 seconds.
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt easing to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less after midnight. W  swell 3 ft at 7 seconds.

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