8/9 BC sewage, Seahurst restoration, Stopps Award, Grayland dead whale, Lemon Cr. spill suit

(PHOTO: NOAA/Okeanos)

If you like to watch: Vicious fights! Stunning beauties! Surprises around every corner! Yes, it’s reality TV but with a lot more depth, up to 10,000 feet of depth. It’s live coverage of deep-sea exploration off Nantucket, Mass., and tens of thousands of people are tuning in. They’re watching an eel suddenly attack a squid, oohing-and-aahing over hot-pink starfish and listening as excited researchers discover a canyon so downright alien that sea life lives on methane escaping from the seafloor instead of sunlight. They’re watching science as it happens, however weird and wild. Watch "Deep-Sea TV"  Seth Borenstein reports. A reality show with depth: Live ocean exploration  

Metro Vancouver says it is working to stop raw sewage from flowing into Burrard Inlet or Georgia Strait following heavy rains, but admits it could be decades before this happens. The pronouncement comes as the regional district faces charges under the Fisheries Act for allegedly dumping raw sewage from a combined overflow pipe at Brockton Point into Burrard Inlet two years ago.  It may take decades to stop sewage from leaking into Burrard Inlet

In addition to his high salary, the new director of Greater Victoria’s sewage treatment project will also get an extra year’s pay if he finishes his job. The perk is outlined in a $290,000-a-year contract signed between Albert Sweetnam, an engineer and former Ontario Power Generation executive, and the Capital Regional District’s civilian sewage commission. The bonus pay comes at the end of Sweetnam’s five-year contract. If he stays on the job, and completes the sewage project by 2018, he’ll get the extra $290,000. Rob Shaw reports. Greater Victoria sewage project boss to get $290,000 bonus if he finishes job

The largest shoreline restoration project in the Puget Sound area will begin next month at Burien’s Seahurst Park.... Seahurst Park will close in late September and when it reopens in May, the north seawall will be gone and the adjacent beach restored to natural conditions. A narrower pathway will still extend along the north beach to the science center and marine technical laboratory. The north beach will begin to look like the park’s restored south end. The seawall was built in 1972. Eric Mathison reports. Restoration of Seahurst Park north beach begins next month

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center is seeking nominations for the 2013 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award. The award recognizes people on the North Olympic Peninsula who are stewards of the environment and have demonstrated leadership in efforts to protect the natural world. Nominations must be submitted to the marine science center before 5 p.m. Aug. 31... Stopps, who died of cancer in April at the age of 92, was responsible for the 1982 establishment of the Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge, the only refuge created during the Reagan administration. Port Townsend Marine Science Center seeks leadership award nominations

The dead gray whale that washed up on the beach near Grayland is being removed bone by bone and the owners of the Westport Aquarium say they could use help removing the remains — if you can stand the smell and “gore.” Kathryn Myrsell, co-owner and co-director of the Westport Aquarium, said she and her husband, Marc, are removing the whale bit by bit because the state parks department, which has jurisdiction over the remains, was reluctant to have the carcass moved in a large vehicle across a dune to private land, where the owner had offered to let the body decay naturally. Removal of dead whale a tall order for aquarium

A resident affected by the fuel spill in Lemon Creek has filed a class action lawsuit against both the province and the company whose truck triggered the spill. Robert George Kirk filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday. In late July, a tanker fell into the creek and leaked 35,000 litres of jet fuel into the water which drains into the Kootenay River. Lawsuit filed over Lemon Creek jet fuel spill  

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 PM PDT THU AUG 8 2013
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 2 FT AT 12 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG.
FRI
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 11 SECONDS. AREAS OF MORNING FOG.
FRI NIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
SAT
W WIND TO 10 KT...RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
SAT NIGHT
NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
SUN
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 4 FT AT 8 SECONDS.
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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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8/8 Cascades frog, bluffs, state land geoducks, marine climate migration

"Chuckling" frog (Ashley Ahearn)

If you like to listen: Maureen Ryan scales rocky trails at 5,000 feet elevation as nimbly as the mountain goats that wandered through camp earlier this morning. The amphibian researcher leads her team of scientists down off a ridge line in the Seven Lakes Basin of Olympic National Park to her “lab”, you might call it. It’s a series of pothole wetlands cupped in the folds of these green, snow-studded mountains - perfect habitat for Cascades frogs (Rana cascadae). Ryan, a researcher with the University of Washington, is an expert on alpine amphibians. She’s also part of a group of scientists from around the region, coordinated by the Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative at the USGS, who are trying to understand and project how the warming climate will affect these frogs’ ability to feed, mate, and ultimately, survive. Ashley Ahearn reports. Tracking An Alpine Frog That Chuckles And Beeps For Climate Change Research

One thing you’ll notice when visiting Puget Sound’s lovely shorelines: they’re definitely bluffing. Just about every beach here demands a strenuous workout before you get to dabble your toes in the water. Are you standing in the surf right now? Great! (Cold, innit? I’m afraid our seas aren’t warm. Sorry.) Turn landward. Do you see a steep cliff sort o’ thing looming behind you, wearing some greenery and promising you some serious exercise when you exit your seaside siesta? Yeah, that’s a bluff. Dana Hunter blogs. Hey, Puget Sound! Are Ya Bluffing, Punk? Well, Are Ya?

Commercial geoduck aquaculture on state-owned beaches has been given a tentative green light by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Many steps remain before state tidelands are leased to commercial geoduck farmers, according to Toni Droscher, spokeswoman for the agency, but it’s time to move forward with a pilot program to measure the benefits and drawbacks of growing the giant clams on state aquatic lands. Leasing of state tidelands was underway in 2007, when the Legislature and incoming Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark called for more research into the environmental effects of geoduck aquaculture, which generally involves inserting plastic tubes in the beach and covering the area with nets to protect young clams. Chris Dunagan reports. Geoduck farming proposed for state tidelands http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2013/aug/07/geoduck-farming-proposed-for-state-tidelands/#axzz2bMcO9JYl

Ocean animals are moving toward the poles and doing so even faster than their counterparts on land, new research shows. The three-year study, published in Nature Climate Change, shows that warming oceans are causing marine species to change breeding, feeding, and migration timing as well as shift where they live. “The leading edge or front-line of marine species distributions is moving toward the poles at an average of 72 kilometers (about 45 miles) per decade—considerably faster than terrestrial species, which are moving poleward at an average of 6 kilometers (about 4 miles) per decade,” says lead author Elvira Poloczanska, a research scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Marine and Atmospheric Research in Brisbane. Sea creatures race toward cooler waters

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 PM PDT WED AUG 7 2013
THU
W WIND TO 10 KT...RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS...BUILDING TO 1 TO 3 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. W SWELL 3 FT AT 10 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG.
THU NIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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8/7 Rockfish habitat, native oysters, Kitsap shellfish, False Creek coliform, derelict vessel rules, Robert Paine,BC gas, oil train halt

Canary rockfish (WDFW)

The National Marine Fisheries Service proposes to designate almost 1,200 square miles of Puget Sound as critical habitat for three species of endangered rockfish. The habitat protection follows the 2010 decision to list yelloweye, canary and bocaccio rockfish under the Endangered Species Act. The Fisheries Service says the rockfish are vulnerable to overfishing because they have long lives and mature slowly with sporadic reproduction. Tuesday's designation will require federal agencies to make sure their actions don't harm rockfish habitat. The protected area in Puget Sound overlaps existing critical habitat for Puget Sound Chinook and Hood Canal summer-run chum, bull trout and Southern Resident killer whales. Critical habitat listed for Puget Sound rockfish  Also, if they haven’t erected a paywall, Chris Dunagan reports: Habitat protection proposed for endangered rockfish in Puget Sound

Kwiaht researchers have relocated over 200 mature native Olympia oysters from Fidalgo Bay in Anacortes to Fisherman Bay on Lopez as the first stage of state-approved recovery of this ecologically important and tasty bivalve in San Juan County. The transplants are the offspring of oysters collected on Lopez over a decade ago by the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, spawned out in the Lummi Indian Nation shellfish hatchery, and seeded in Fidalgo Bay as a habitat restoration project of the Skagit County Marine Resources Committee. Meanwhile, wild Olympia oysters disappeared from the San Juan Islands. Coordinating the return of Olympia oysters were Kwiaht’s Russel Barsh and Dr. Paul Dinnel, a Shannon Point Marine Center biologist and a member of the SCMRC, who was instrumental in the Fidalgo Bay oyster restoration program.  Dinnel says that, unlike the widespread, larger Pacific oyster, introduced in our waters in the 1920s, the Olympia is a “brooding” species. Native oysters make a comeback

Local efforts to improve water quality continue to pay off, as demonstrated by the opening of 162 acres of shellfish beds around Kingston’s Appletree Cove. The opening will allow for future geoduck harvesting in the deep, offshore area, according to Mark Toy of the Washington Department of Health. Previously, shellfish harvesting was prohibited in and beyond the cove, mainly because of discharges from Kingston’s sewage-treatment plant and the presence of the Kingston Marina. But a new treatment plant, with an outfall pipe that extends nearly a mile offshore, has changed the situation dramatically, Toy said. Chris Dunagan reports. Approved shellfish area expanded near Kingston

The coliform counts in East False Creek are almost twice the level safe for swimming and wading in the water, tests show, with counts also inching up for Sunset Beach in English Bay. But Vancouver Coastal Health says the danger from the contamination should not be blown out of proportion. The risk of infection goes up once the coliform count hits 200 bacteria per 100 ml of water. Coliform counts for East False Creek - between Science World and the Cambie Street Bridge - are 380 per 100 ml, Coastal Health says. The area is used by kayakers and paddle boarders, but is not a popular spot for swimming or wading, so Coastal Health says they have not posted a public warning. False Creek coliform count rises

The Washington Department of Ecology is developing a new permit that lays out clear rules for the deconstruction of derelict vessels over water. Currently, any approved dismantling of an abandoned or defunct ship must happen at a dry-dock facility. But Ecology officials hope establishing the permit will open a new door for the safe removal of some of the 153 derelict vessels now languishing on Washington waterways. Eric Florip reports. Washington Developing New Rules For Derelict Vessels

Ecologists worldwide credit the work of a University of Washington biology professor for advancing the way we understand the importance of so-called “apex species” in nature. Now, Professor Emeritus Robert T. Paine’s work is being recognized with Japan’s International Cosmos Prize this year. The prize honors efforts that promote the harmonious coexistence of nature and mankind. It carries an award of 40 million yen. In today’s exchange, that's worth about $408,000.  Lisa Brooks reports. Retired UW Professor Wins International Cash Prize For Ecology Work

TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) says it's building a $1.5-billion extension to its pipeline system in northeastern British Columbia that will help deliver natural gas to an export terminal planned for Prince Rupert, B.C. The North Montney Mainline will extend TransCanada's existing Groundbirch pipeline by adding some 305 kilometres of new large-diameter pipe. Progress Energy, a subsidiary of Malaysian energy giant Petronas, has signed up to ship two billion cubic feet per day on the North Montney Mainline. TransCanada says it's also in talks with other potential customers. TransCanada building pipeline extension in northeastern B.C. for $1.5 billion  

Rail traffic may begin running through Lac-Mégantic again this week, but the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic railway has decided it will stop hauling oil after one of its trains derailed and exploded here last month. “It’s proven to be more trouble than it’s worth, and I guess that’s putting this mildly,” company chairman Ed Burkhardt said on Monday, a month after a runaway MMA train exploded downtown, killing 47 people and levelling much of the town. “We don’t plan to continue with oil transportation. That traffic is going to go other ways, not over our lines,” he said. Railway to stop transporting oil after Lac-Megantic disaster

Now, your tug weather--
 WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 850 PM PDT TUE AUG 6 2013
DENSE FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON PDT WEDNESDAY
WED
W WIND TO 10 KT...RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 2 FT AT 8 SECONDS. WIDESPREAD DENSE FOG...BECOMING AREAS OF DENSE FOG IN THE AFTERNOON.
WED NIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 2 FT AT 9 SECONDS. WIDESPREAD DENSE FOG DEVELOPING.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

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8/6 BC sockeye, Tacoma port pays, big scary fish, jay vomit, 'megaloads' to move

Sockeye (PHOTO: DFO)

Four years after disastrous sockeye runs on the Fraser River spurred the federal Cohen Commission, fisheries managers in both Canada and the U.S. are waiting anxiously to see how returns will fare this summer for that same cycle of salmon. Mike Lapointe, chief biologist with the Pacific Salmon Commission, said the main summer runs are later than expected and that he won’t know for a few more days whether total Fraser sockeye returns will match the pre-season estimate of almost 4.8 million fish.... The estimate of 4.8 million sockeye is a median figure based on spawning success four years ago, he said, noting there is a one-in-four chance of returns as low as 2.7 million fish or as high as 8.6 million. In 2009, Fraser River sockeye returns totalled only about 1.5 million fish, down from expectations of 10.4 million, the majority of which went unfished in order to maximize numbers on the spawning grounds. Larry Pynn reports. Canadian, U.S. fisheries managers wait anxiously for summer sockeye returns

The Port of Tacoma and two contractors have agreed to pay a $500,000 penalty and spend $3 million to compensate for violations of the Clean Water Act that damaged wetlands. The proposed settlement has been filed with the court and the public will have 30 days to provide comments, which the court will consider before the settlement is approved. In 2008, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discovered that the Port of Tacoma hired a contractor to raze vegetation and destroyed more than four acres of wetlands in the Hylebos Marsh. Ashley Ahearn reports. EPA Issues $500,000 Fine For Wetlands Destruction At Port Of Tacoma  

John Denton hoped to catch a perch or bluegill on Sunday when he cast his line into Lake Ki, northwest of Marysville.... The fish he pulled out of the water was what looks like a pacu, an omnivorous South American freshwater fish that's related to the piranha. The pacu is not nearly as ferocious as its cousin -- it eats mainly fruit and vegetables and is known as the vegetarian piranha. Jim Davis reports. Exotic fish caught in lake near Marysville    Meanwhile: Eight-foot sturgeon found belly up in Lake Washington

If you like to listen: "Because the Marbled Murrelet lays only one egg, its odds of raising a family are slim. Steller's Jays – who frequent campgrounds in the redwood forests of northern California looking for human handouts – further threaten murrelet reproduction by eating their eggs. Fortunately, scientists have turned the jay's extraordinary learning capacity into a way to help those beleaguered murrelets..." BirdNote: Fake Marbled Murrelet Eggs Cause Jays to Vomit

The head of the Nez Perce Tribe says he's “shocked” by the “audacity” of an Oregon shipper that plans to haul extra-large loads through a protected stretch of Idaho. The company says it will start moving a so-called "megaload" Monday night. despite the fact that it doesn't have approval from the U.S. Forest Service. The truckload in question is a water evaporator that's 255 feet long, more than 300 tons and takes up two lanes of traffic, and the Forest Service says it can't approve that kind of load without a formal assessment of its impact. So the agency hasn’t given the greenlight to Hillsboro, Ore.-based shipper Omega Morgan. Jessica Robinson reports. 'Megaload’ to Hit the Road, Even without Federal OK  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 1052 PM PDT MON AUG 5 2013
DENSE FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON PDT TUESDAY
TUE
W WIND TO 10 KT...RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 2 FT AT 8 SECONDS. DENSE FOG LIFTING ABOUT MIDDAY.
TUE NIGHT
W WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING. W SWELL 2 FT AT 8 SECONDS. AREAS OF DENSE FOG.
--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

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8/5 Lummi coal, octopus ban, BC quake, Luna, orca ESA, orca enforcer, Port Angeles pier, feral rabbits, ocean fracking, Irish fish farms

Luna (Debra Brash/Times-Colonist)

New blog: "A few weeks ago our loyal and good friend Joe Spike the Dog was suffering in his infirmities too much and I made the hard decision to say good-bye and having him euthanized. Losing a good animal friend might have made me a bit more sensitive to animal news and encounters these last few weeks— and made me reflect on how we humans stand in relation to animals and to the wild..." Animals as Friends, Animals as Wild Creatures

In a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lummi Nation Chairman Tim Ballew says the tribe "has unconditional and unequivocal opposition" to the Gateway Pacific Terminal coal export pier that SSA Marine hopes to build at Cherry Point. The letter is the 5,000-member tribe's formal effort to exercise its treaty right power to block developments that pose a threat to tribal fisheries. In the past, the Army Corps has acknowledged that power and has refused to process permits for projects if tribal objections cannot be resolved. John Stark reports. Lummi Nation sees no compromise on Gateway Pacific

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously decided (Friday) to ban  giant Pacific octopus hunting across seven popular scuba sites in the Puget Sound. Nick Provenza reports. Washington commission restricts octopus hunting

A "moderate" quake shook the northern end of Vancouver Island early Sunday morning, waking many people in their beds as windows rattled and blinds swayed from the tremors. Earthquakes Canada said the 5.5 magnitude quake hit at about 6:20 a.m. local time about 25 kilometres west of Nootka Island, off the north coast of Vancouver Island. There were no reports of any damage or injuries, and no tsunami was expected. Earthquake rattles northern Vancouver Island, no injuries reported

...The release this summer of (Mike) Parfit and (Suzanne) Chisholm’s book, The Lost Whale: The True Story of an Orca Named Luna, may be the last chapter of the couple’s involvement with the young killer whale that turned up alone in Nootka Sound seeking human contact. But Parfit and Chisholm’s time with Luna changed their lives forever — and they believe others were similarly affected during the controversy-ridden years the whale spent in Nootka Sound. The book, like Parfit and Chisholm’s award-winning documentary films, Saving Luna and The Whale — narrated by Ryan Reynolds and executive produced by Reynolds and his then-wife, Scarlett Johansson — does not answer the many questions that were raised by Luna’s short life, which ended in March 2006. Instead, Parfit said, the central theme is empathy. Judith Lavoie reports. Luna’s legacy of love and loss  

Killer whales that spend their summers in Puget Sound are a distinct population group and will remain protected under the Endangered Species Act, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Friday. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service spent a year reviewing a petition to delist the orcas. The petition was brought by the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of California farmers who faced water restrictions to protect salmon the orcas eat. They argued the Puget Sound orcas were part of a larger north Pacific population and didn’t qualify for the 2005 endangered species listing. But NOAA spokesman Brian Gorman said those arguments were rejected. Doug Esser reports. Puget Sound orcas versus California farmers: Whales win    Read also: Orcas still ‘endangered’ as next steps contemplated  

Washington state is getting a new officer — one who will protect and serve killer whales. Federal funds will allow the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department to hire an officer to enforce laws protecting Puget Sound orcas.
The National Marine Fisheries Service says the department will use the $925,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to hire the enforcement officer for three years. Washington state to hire official to enforce orca protection laws

Rachel Benbrook writes: “The Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association and the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group are now accepting applications for a comprehensive training program.  The Citizen Action Training School, or CATS, includes 12 weeks of class and field instruction on local watershed and Puget Sound ecology, as well as guidance about civic engagement around natural resources issues.  CATS is being offered throughout the region with the first sessions in Bellingham and South Sound starting mid-September.  For more info or to apply, go here  or email here.  Applications are due August 14th so get yours in soon for this comprehensive training program on local and regional Puget Sound recovery efforts!”

A 1,160-foot dock that has anchored Port of Port Angeles marine operations for 87 years is due to become more environmentally friendly. It's part of a $3 million project jointly funded by the federal government and the port in which toxic creosote piles will be replaced and the pier strengthened. Port officials received notice last week that they obtained preliminary approval for a $1.5 million U.S. Economic Development Agency, or EDA, investment assistance grant to redevelop the giant pier, known as Terminal 1. Paul Gottlieb reports. Port Angeles pier in line for $1.5 million grant

A local rescue organization says its efforts to help a colony of feral rabbits live hoppily ever after have been handcuffed by government red tape. Fifty of the furry creatures have been stranded in a spare garage at the Richmond Auto Mall, while officials with the province’s fish and wildlife branch determine whether they can issue permits for their transfer to safe harbour in B.C.  Richmond rabbit rescue runs aground on shoal of ‘red tape’  

Companies prospecting for oil off California's coast have used hydraulic fracturing on at least a dozen occasions to force open cracks beneath the seabed, and now regulators are investigating whether the practice should require a separate permit and be subject to stricter environmental review. While debate has raged over fracking on land, prompting efforts to ban or restrict it, offshore fracking has occurred with little attention in sensitive coastal waters where for decades new oil leases have been prohibited. Hundreds of pages of federal documents released by the government to The Associated Press and advocacy groups through the Freedom of Information Act show regulators have permitted fracking in the Pacific Ocean at least 12 times since the late 1990s, and have recently approved a new project. Alicia Chang and Jason Dearen report. Offshore fracking draws less attention than on land

The Aran Islands shield Galway Bay from the wild Atlantic beyond - a key reason its waters have been chosen as the proposed site for the country's biggest salmon farm by the sea fisheries state agency (BIM).The plan to double the farmed-salmon output of 15,000 tonnes a year pits those who say it is an under-developed resource badly needed in recession against those arguing it threatens the environment and wild salmon and sea trout stocks. Out on Inis Oirr island, the Irish-speaking community of fewer than 300 relies mostly on fishing and tourism. Bilingual posters oppose the farm. Background music to breakfast is a new protest CD against the scheme. Diarmaid Fleming reports. Irish battle over plans for Aran giant salmon farm

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 858 PM PDT SUN AUG 4 2013
MON
SW WIND TO 10 KT...BECOMING W 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS. AREAS OF DENSE FOG IN THE MORNING.
MON NIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 3 FT AT 8 SECONDS. PATCHY DENSE FOG.
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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

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8/2 Lummi coal, Billy Frank Jr., coal EIS, Canada oil, BC swallows, ghost nets, Arctic ice

If you like to watch: Check out a film created by Western Washington University students enrolled in Huxley College of the Environment's SMOCS (Science and Management of Contaminated Sites) course. First in a series of films detailing the cleanup process in WA under MTCA.  Model Toxics Control Act: Envisioning Washington's Future  And, if you're into comic books, check out “The Adventures of the Remediators"

The Lummi Indian Tribe is officially opposing the plan to build a massive coal export terminal near Bellingham. It’s a move that could ultimately terminate the terminal and stop controversial coal trains in their tracks. The Lummi say the terminal would destroy their ability to fish native waters as they've done for thousands of years. Merle Jefferson comes from a long line of Lummi fishermen. His father and grandfather worked the waters around the Strait of Georgia for salmon and crab, as do 60 other families today... Now, the tribe is playing a trump card. They're invoking treaty rights, sending a formal letter to the Army Corps of Engineers that declares they see no workable way to share the waters with coal exporters. In response, the Corps could deny critical permits for the project, essentially killing it.  Eric Wilkinson reports. Tribe plays trump card that could kill coal terminal

Climate change is sweeping indigenous villages into the sea in Alaska, flooding the taro fields of native Hawaiians and devastating the salmon population from which Washington state Indian tribes draw their livelihood, tribal leaders testified Thursday at a Senate hearing. “The ocean is important to all of us,” said Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, a group of 20 Washington state tribes with treaty rights to salmon fishing. “It’s dying. And who the hell is in charge? Nobody that I see.” Frank was among several witnesses at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs who called on the federal government to fight climate change and help tribes cope with its effects. They suggested strategies such as renewable energy programs, land-swap plans for communities displaced by rising sea levels, and better coordination among the government agencies with which they interact. Rebecca Cohen reports. Tribes tell Senate how environmental change, rules affect their lands  


Unprecedented. Both backers and critics of a massive coal-export terminal north of Bellingham used that term Wednesday as a scope of environmental review was announced by federal, state and Whatcom County officials. The results, which will include a look at greenhouse gases, rewarded a grassroots opposition campaign that ranged from the coalfields of Wyoming to the outer islands of Washington. Floyd McKay reports. Coal port faces a new level of environmental scrutiny

Oil firm TransCanada has unveiled plans to build a pipeline from western Canada to the country's Atlantic coast, as its plans for a US pipeline remain stalled. The 12bn Canadian dollar ($11.6bn; £8bn) Energy East line would carry up to 1.1 million barrels of oil per day. That would replace oil imported to eastern Canada, with a leftover surplus to export across the Atlantic. TransCanada in pipeline plan from west to east Canada   See also: Is B.C. rushing headlong into a disastrous liquefied natural gas glut?

Days after a lease was approved for the largest crude oil terminal in the Northwest, the Port of Vancouver on the Columbia River became a hot spot to stop it. "Summer Heat Climate Action," a project of 350.org and local organizations, is committed to keep fossil fuels in the ground and out of the export and domestic markets. If nearly a dozen other terminals go through, the amount of crude being piped by rail into the region would be on par with Keystone XL, over 800,000 barrels a day. Martha Baskin reports. Bakken Crude Oil Heads to Northwest: Climate Action on the Columbia River  

A B.C. ornithologist is warning that swallow populations are declining at an alarming rate and the expert insect hunters could cease to fly over Metro Vancouver’s skies in the coming years. Derek Matthews, chair of the Vancouver Avian Research Centre, says that populations of barn and bank swallows in particular have fallen by up to 98 per cent in Greater Vancouver since 1970 and the decline seems to be speeding up. Matthews characterized the situation as “desperate, really desperate,” and says his research team has noticed a particularly fierce drop off in the last three to five years.  Swallow populations plummeting in Metro Vancouver  

The final push in a decade-long effort to clear Puget Sound of derelict fishing nets within 105 feet of the surface will get under way later this year with funding approved by the Washington State Legislature. The state budget adopted last month provides $3.5 million for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to complete the task in partnership with the Northwest Straits Foundation, which has led the net-removal effort since 2002. Since then, divers working for the non-profit organization have removed 4,437 lost or abandoned fishing nets, 2,765 crab pots and 42 shrimp pots from the waters of Puget Sound. Animals found dead or entangled in that gear include porpoises, sea lions, seabirds, canary rockfish, chinook salmon and Dungeness crab.  Washington Legislature funds final push to rid Puget Sound of derelict fishing nets  

Arctic sea ice is melting at record rates, and the loss of that ice could drive significant degradation of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, according to a researcher at the University of Washington. The researcher, Cecelia Bitz, is part of an international team of scientists whose findings are published this week in the journal, Science.  Scientists have been able to accurately track the rate at which sea ice is melting since 1979, when the satellite era began. In the 35 years since, the ice has retreated by 40 percent. That’s an increase of more than 1 percent a year—two or three times faster than the global mean. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. Mounting Consequences as Arctic Sea Ice Melts

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 PM PDT THU AUG 1 2013
FRI
W WIND 10 KT...BECOMING NW TO 10 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 2 FT AT 8 SECONDS. PATCHY DRIZZLE IN THE MORNING. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
FRI NIGHT
W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 2 FT AT 18 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
SAT
NW WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 20 SECONDS.
SAT NIGHT
NW WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING W 5 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 19 SECONDS.
SUN
LIGHT WIND. WIND WAVES LESS THAN 1 FT. NW SWELL 3 FT AT 18 SECONDS.
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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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8/1 Coal EIS, SSA pays up, Salish Sea Village, crab area pollution, Victoria sewer, Kitsault LNG

The state Department of Ecology on Wednesday announced it was launching an environmental review, unprecedented in scope, of a proposed coal-export terminal near Bellingham. The scope of the review will range from other Western states that would see increased numbers of coal trains, to Asia, where coal combustion will create greenhouse gases. The state review of the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point in Northwest Washington is expected to take some two years to complete. It will be coordinated with more limited reviews conducted by Whatcom County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Hal Bernton and Brian M. Rosenthal report. State to undertake sweeping review of coal-terminal plan   See also: Climate Change & Rail Transport Will Be Included When Measuring Coal Export Project’s Impact  

Pacific International Terminals, the SSA Marine subsidiary pursuing the Gateway Pacific coal export terminal at Cherry Point, has agreed to pay $1.65 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the company's unauthorized land-clearing work on the property in 2011. RE Sources for Sustainable Communities had filed the suit, alleging that the land-clearing work was a violation of the federal Clean Water Act. That act allows citizens and environmental groups to file lawsuits to enforce the federal law. John Stark reports. SSA Marine pays $1.65 million to settle lawsuit over land clearing

New blog: “One of the reasons to return to Hawaii this time of year was to attend the annual O-bon celebration at the Haleiwa Buddhist Church and participate in the toro-nagashi. The annual celebration is in memory of one’s ancestors and the Haleiwa ceremony features in addition to the prayers and dancing the floating of paper lanterns lighted with candles on the waters near the church...” Returning to Their Heaven: Haleiwa O-bon and Toro-nagashi

Long before Europeans arrived, civilization flourished on the shores of what is now modern Vancouver. It produced a sophisticated society made up of distinct cultures, says Bruce Macdonald. At a time when many in England lived in little huts, the Musqueam built multifamily homes of 90 feet by 200 feet, the Vancouver historian, heritage advocate, and author reminds us..... He’s part of a troika that has started discussions about the Salish Sea Village. The two others are Scott Clark and Hendrik Hoekema, executive directors of the Aboriginal Life in Vancouver Enhancement Society and the Vancouver Eastside Educational Enrichment Society, respectively. Carlito Pablo reports. Trio contemplates Salish Sea Village on Vancouver's waterfront  

Clallam County should strengthen an existing program to operate and maintain individual on-site septic systems in the Dungeness/3 Crabs area, a new study concludes. Staying the course was one of four alternatives being considered in a feasibility study for wastewater management in an unincorporated area where failing septic systems were said to be polluting Dungeness Bay with fecal coliform and nitrogen. Damon McAlister, a senior engineer with Parametrix, and county Environmental Health Director Andy Brastad presented the final study to the Clallam County commissioners Tuesday. Rob Ollikainen reports. Feasibility study addresses Dungeness/3 Crabs-area pollution  

The Town of View Royal will not allow a sewage treatment plant to be built on undeveloped waterfront property at Thetis Cove, says Mayor Graham Hill... The property, at the end of Hallowell Road, is zoned residential, part of View Royal’s official community plan and currently before town staff as a potential residential development, Hill wrote. “It would be folly for the Capital Regional District to purchase another site only to learn that their investment is sown on infertile ground.” Rob Shaw reports.  View Royal adamant: No sewage plant  

An entrepreneur is trying to breathe new life into the B.C. ghost town of Kitsault by making it a major hub in the province`s growing liquid natural gas infrastructure. Krishnan Suthanthiran, an Indo-Canadian businessman who made his fortune selling medical supplies throughout North America, bought Kitsault in 2004 for $5 million in cash.... The town, which is located north of Prince Rupert on Alice Arm, was constructed nearly overnight in the early 1980s by U.S. mining conglomerate Phelps Dodge.  B.C. ghost town could become major natural gas hub   

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 PM PDT WED JUL 31 2013
THU
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING NW 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. NW SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE MORNING.
THU NIGHT
W WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. NW SWELL 2 FT AT 7 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

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