3/25 House finch, ABC lease termination, beached orca, gray whale die-off, WA drought, North Shore sewage plant, PFAS, River Views, halibut season, robotic fish

House finch [Martina Nordstrand]

 

 House finch Haemorhous mexicanus
The house finch is a bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is native to western North America and has been introduced to the eastern half of the continent and Hawaii. This species and the other two American rosefinches are placed in the genus Haemorhous. (Wikipedia)

Today's top story in Salish Current: In Lynden, faucets turn amid a water fluoridation debate

Port of Bellingham Commission to terminate metal recycling company lease
Commissioners will meet in special session today (March 25)  to execute  a Lease Termination Agreement (Memo) with A.B.C. Recycling Operations Corp. and A.B.C. Recycling Holdings Corp. (collectively, "ABC"). The Parties agree to terminate the Terminal Lease on or before September 30, 2024. Lessee shall not bring any additional Finished Bulk Scrap to the Premises.  Lessee shall remove all Finished Bulk Scrap from the Premises on or before 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2024. (Port of Bellingham)

Beached orca in B.C. dies despite life-saving efforts
A female killer whale that beached on northern Vancouver Island died on Saturday despite efforts by the community to push the mammal back into the water. Video of the incident, which occurred near the village of Zeballos on the island's northwest coast, shows dozens of people trying to save the stranded orca. The female orca was stranded on shore in the Little Espinosa Inlet, about six kilometres southwest of the village, at low tide while a calf swam nearby, said Florence Bruce of the Ehattesaht First Nation. (CBC)

Gray whale die-off is officially over, but climate change adds uncertainty
Federal officials have declared the end of the die-off of eastern Pacific Gray Whales that migrate along the west coast. The so-called “unusual mortality event” killed off about a third of the population from December 2018 to November 2023. A total of 690 emaciated whales were counted that washed up on beaches, representing perhaps a tenth of the total number that died. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

How the drought hit WA’s farms, forests, fisheries and drinking water
Virtually every aspect of life in Washington suffered during last year’s drought. Groundwater wells ran dry, fields produced fewer crops, trees died in greater numbers, fish faced disease and famine, according to a study from the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group. Now those sectors are bracing for yet another poor water year as El Niño conditions, compounded by climate change, produced well-below-normal snowpack. Conrad Swanson reports. (Seattle Times)

Estimated cost for North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant balloons to almost $4B
Construction on the long-awaited North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant will soon begin again, according to Metro Vancouver, but it now comes with a much more expensive price tag of $3.86 billion. When construction began on the facility in 2018, the project was estimated to cost $700 million and was expected to be operational by December 2020. Joel Ballard reports. (CBC)

As WA tackles PFAS pollution, some worry about ‘piecemeal’ approach
State-mandated testing revealed a San Juan Island community was drinking toxic water. But who is responsible for paying for a new water source? The question is one public officials are grappling with as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are found in drinking water sources and watersheds across the state. In Washington, there are about 2,400 public water systems that are required to test for PFAS. Roughly half of them have done those tests, with about 250 having detected the chemicals in the water, but that doesn’t count thousands of households who drink from private wells, which are not subject to state testing requirements. Manuel Villa and Isabella Breda report. (Seattle Times)

River Views
The Seattle Convention Center is now home to a collection of four massive works of art depicting the transformation of the Duwamish River, created by Western Washington University’s John Feodorov, an artist and associate professor at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies. Feodorov’s “Four Views on a River” was commissioned as part of the new art collection in Seattle Convention Center’s Summit building. Mary Gallagher reports. (Western Washington University Window)

Coastal halibut season opens May 2; Puget Sound fishery opens April 4
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced plans for the 2024 halibut fishing season, which will kick off April 4 in some Puget Sound areas and start May 2 along the coast.  (KXRO)

Get Ready for the Robotic Fish Revolution
Scientists say swarms of robotic fish could soon make traditional underwater research vehicles obsolete. Annie Roth reports. (Hakai Magazine)

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Here's your tug weather—
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  235 AM PDT Mon Mar 25 2024    
TODAY  SW wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell 4 to  6 ft at 14 seconds subsiding to 2 to 4 ft at 14 seconds in the  afternoon.  
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  3 ft at 13 seconds.

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